Brave or Stupid?
by Sara60691
Summary: "Was I being brave or just incredibly stupid? Time to find out." What happens when Zane breaks into Jo's house in the middle of the night.WARNING:contains spoilers from season4.5 sorry my original version didn't upload correctly, hopefully this one will
1. Chapter 1

I wasn't sure if this was brave or just insane, but either way I found myself in this situation. I had broken into Josephina Lupo's home. It was late at night and after leaving Café Diem, I had wandered about Eureka. It had taken a while for me to wrap my mind around the idea that I had proposed to Lupo in another lifetime. Hell, it had taken me longer to accept that concept than to believe I had survived a little unplanned space trip with Fargo.

Regardless of my unnerved state, I found myself in Lupo's house. Instead of wandering home, I had somehow, while lost in thought, broken into her house. I smirked a bit at that. I was good, so good in fact that I could break in without thinking. Of course, Jo might not find that a good thing. If I was going to try and start something with her, well, I supposed I would just have to mend my ways. Yeah right, I might be able to lay off the explosions and cut back on the snarking, but I would never be a complete goody two shoes. That would be too boring for me. Speaking of being a goody two shoes, well, I was in Jo's house now; I might as well look around. I explored downstairs, not finding anything interesting, before heading up the stairs as quietly as I could manage.

Again, there wasn't much. A guest bedroom on one side, bathroom on the other, and at the end of the hall, I guessed, was Jo's room. Curiosity overriding survival instinct, I slowly opened the door. Wow, Jo had good taste. The bedroom was huge; a walk in closet was still open on one side of the room, a dresser covered in pictures next to it. The opposite wall had classical French doors leading onto a small balcony, the glass doors allowing the moonlight to spill into the room. The light from outside illuminated the queen sized, four poster bed in front of me, Josephina Lupo curled up in the middle of it, sound asleep. Never, in any of my most vivid fantasies about her, had I imagined how beautiful she would look, sleeping peacefully. Her hair was down (which I had never seen) and spilling across her pillow, the black silky strands in sharp contrast to the creamy sheets. The sheets were kicked down and twisted about her legs, revealing that the woman I had always thought was smokin' hot, was beyond that. She was a goddess. Jo slept in nothing but a pair of tight pajama shorts and a tank top, clinging to her curves and showing more caramel skin than I ever thought she would expose.

"Damn," the word slipped out of my mouth before I could think better of it, but I couldn't help it, damn she was perfect. Of course, as my luck would have it, the breath of a word woke the ex-Special Forces soldier. I watched with growing horror, as if in slow motion, as she stirred, rolled onto her side, blinked open her eyes, and looked right at me. What I did not expect was for her to give me a sleepy smile, stretch out, and shift to the side. My mouth went dry at the silent invite to join her in bed.

"You were working late," Jo commented, half asleep. She was acting like this was normal, me being in her room in the middle of the night. I don't know, maybe it was in the other timeline.

"Um, yeah. Big project," I mumbled, unsure. Lupo yawned, and shifted onto her back, closing her eyes again.

"You must be tired. We'll talk in the morning. You have to stop pulling these stupid all-nighters. I want some time with you too you know," she mumbled, voice trailing off as she drifted back into sleep. Ok, so was I going to be incredibly stupid again, or was I going to do the smart thing and go home? Curiosity over self-preservation? Well, even a genius had his stupid, insane moments. Trying to stop second guessing myself, I stripped down to my boxers (typical sleep wear) and climbed into bed with Jo. I really hoped she wouldn't wake up and kill me for this. For a little while I wanted to pretend we had a life together, one where she wore my Grandmother's ring. With thoughts of the incident that had dropped this Jo into my life, I drifted to sleep.

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><p>AN: ok, so this is something i've had bouncing around in my head for a while. I'm not sure how long in will be but i'm sure the rating will change. Reviews are appreciated (especially if you want me to continue with the story ;) so yeah, i hope you like what i have so far)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: ok, so this chapter is definitely going to bump the rating up to M. if enough poeple don't like it at this rating, feel free to post a review, i'll edit it. I was nervous about posting something like this, especially since it's only my second story, but that's how it was in my head so that's how i wrote it. i hope you all like it.

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><p>I woke suddenly in a cold sweat around two in the morning. God that was one hell of a nightmare. Swirling thoughts of Jo chasing me with a Taser through the halls of GD drifted to the back of my mind as I registered I wasn't in my own bedroom. Glancing to my side, I found the scariest, most gorgeous woman I had ever come across curled up next to me, just starting to stir from sleep. Damn, was my nightmare going to come true? I was pretty sure that Jo <em>would not<em> be happy to find me in her bed, regardless of our history together in her memories.

"Zane?" she mumbled, pulling me from my panicked thoughts. She was looking up at me, only one eye open, still half asleep like before when she confused me for her version of well…me.

"Hey Jojo," I said, grinning down at her. Well this couldn't get any more awkward. I had no clue how to act having never been in a relationship longer than a month, if that. She smiled sleepily at me and moved closer, draping one of her arms across my waist in a lazy sort of hug.

"Dreams again?" she asked. I nodded, my throat suddenly felt too dry for me to speak. Jo and I had never been this close to each other without her arresting me, or one of us being in a life or death situation.

"I swear, you're such a teenager Donovan. What was it this time?" she sighed, rolling back over to her side of the bed.

"What?" I asked, confused. What did me being juvenile have to do with waking up in the middle of the night from nightmares?

"C'mon, you always have the same three dreams whenever you wake up in the middle of the night. Sheriff's office? Or maybe up at the campsite. Oh, the handcuffs one? You haven't mentioned that for a while," she started rambling. I was thoroughly confused, but as she was listing off the places, I dared to start thinking about those steamy dreams I used to have, way back when I first met her. There were a few choice fantasies I had involving the cell at the sheriff's office and her pair of handcuffs. But as more time passed, and Lupo and I became enemies, I had those dreams less often. When she mentioned the handcuffs, well, all those fantasies I had started playing out in my head again as I just sat there, staring at Jo. Damn she was hot. Noticing my silence, and probably my now heated gaze, she stopped talking and smiled mischievously at me.

"Handcuffs huh?" she asked coyly. I tried to swallow the lump that formed in my throat as her words brought to mind an image of her, handcuffed to the bed, flushed and moaning. I refocused however when Jo turned away from me and started going through the stuff on her bedside table. I wondered if she had realized that she wasn't back in her old timeline, and that I wasn't her Zane. Was she reaching for a Taser or a gun? I was pretty sure I might deserve to be shot for tricking her like this. She was having a rough time of it without me being, well, me. My thoughts drifted off into nothing when she finally turned back to me, a pair of handcuffs dangling from her fingers. God, she had the most seductive smile on her face and the implications of what _might_ happen next made all my blood rush southward.

"Me or you?" she asked in that low, smoky voice that I loved to hear. I gulped again, we had done it both ways? That information alone was enough to override any thinking processes. Jo leaned forward as my brain was trying to restart and ever so gently pressed her lips to mine. That was the only kick start I needed and I crushed my lips to hers, deepening the kiss. I could feel her mouth curve into a smile at my enthusiasm as she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me down with her as she lay back on the bed, handcuffs long forgotten. I never knew how much I had wanted Jo Lupo until I had felt her body pressed against mine, so long ago in the sheriff's office when i had first kissed her. Now that desire was reawakened, becoming stronger if that was even possible, as she was trailing her hands all along my chest and back, tugging me closer to her. My hands were roaming everywhere, pulling her shirt off, trailing up those smooth legs of hers, and before I knew it, her pajamas were tossed somewhere on the floor.

"Zane, stop teasing god dammit!" Jo groaned, attempting to pull my boxers off. I lifted my head from where I had buried it against her neck, busy leaving bite marks, and gave her a customary smirk.

"So impatient Jojo. Let me have my fun," I joked even though I was more aroused than amused by her. I never thought I would be seeing her like this, _ever_. Here she was, in nothing but a pair of very familiar red and black lacy lingerie giving me a look that said if this didn't progress any faster, she was going to be mad.

"_Zane_," this time when she said my name it was almost pleading. The sound caught me so off guard it gave Jo the chance to progress things as she stripped out of her remaining clothes and practically yanking my one piece of clothing the rest of the way off my body. She pulled me back down close to her, our now naked bodies pressed tightly together and started kissing me again, slow and seductive, giving my mind another kick start. If I was going to be having sex with Jo tonight I had to stop freezing in surprise every damn time she did something. Honestly though, I couldn't help it. She was just so freaking perfect and I wanted to pause and marvel.

"Jojo, I do believe you are the sexiest woman I have ever met," I told her with another smirk on my face. She only smiled back, and probably as revenge for teasing her, she leaned forward and nipped at this one spot on my neck that made shivers go down my spine and caused me to groan. Patience officially run out, I nudged her legs apart and slid into her warm, waiting body. We both moaned and I paused. I swear if I moved at all I was going to lose it. She just felt so damn good, anything beyond what I had ever imagined or experienced. When Jo started twisting under me with impatience, I started to move.

I wanted to go slow, make this last for as long as possible. This was, after all my first time sleeping with her, and probably the last. I wanted to remember everything. I wanted to remember the breathy little sighs when I kissed her shoulder, the gasps of pleasure as I hit the right spot, the low moans of my name when I slid out, just to push back in a little harder. Of course, Jo being Jo, she didn't want it slow. Her legs wound around my hips, her body trying to set a different, rougher, rhythm. Looks like we weren't going to go slow after all. Complying with what she wanted, I changed pace, letting her set it. All too soon Jo was digging her short nails into my shoulders as she came and dammit, that was it for me. Feeling her tightening around me, I couldn't help it and I joined her in release.

We both lay there for a while, breathing hard as sweat cooled on our skin. When I regained enough of my senses to realize I was probably crushing Jo, I rolled to the side, dragging her with me so she was half draped over my body.

"Damn," I mumbled, my body still shaking slightly with pleasure. If I hadn't been such an ass to Lupo when I first met her I could've been doing this a lot more often. Jo's breathless little laugh caught my attention and I looked down at her in confusion.

"What're you laughing at?" I grumbled.

"Still just as good without the handcuffs," she mentioned before shifting to a more comfortable position against my side, her head resting on my chest, just above my heart. I smiled as she drifted back off into a more content slumber.

"Even better Jojo," I whispered, kissing the top of her head. I really should get out of here lest I want to be killed when Josephina Lupo, ex-Army Ranger and all around badass, wakes up and realizes I'm not her version of me. As my eyes drifted shut in post sex drowsiness, I really, really thought I should get out of here, but I felt way to content and sleepy to bother moving. I was a risk taker, I could take the chance and sleep a little bit longer with Jo right next to me.


	3. Chapter 3

Sunlight streamed through the window, blinding me as I blinked my eyes open. Damn, Jo just had to have those glass doors. I groaned, turning to the side, away from the light. I wanted to sleep more, having had a long and well, somewhat stressful if not eventful night. Feeling the warm body next to me shift in response to my movements brought a grin to my face. Taking the chance of being blinded again, I opened my eyes again to see Josephina Lupo, hottest woman on the planet and most dangerous authority figure I had ever come across, sound asleep, curled up against me. Had it always been like this? In that other life did I always wake up to these kinds of mornings? This kind of view? What was she going to be like when she woke up? Sometimes being a scientist with too many questions was not a good thing.

As my mind was racing through all the questions I had wanted to ask her about us, I started registering the uncomfortable feeling of something digging into my back. Wincing as I shifted, I pulled out the pair of handcuffs Jo had grabbed last night. I smirked a little, seeing the cuffs. I never thought Jo would ever go for something like this, but then again, I didn't know her as well as she knew me. As I was looking at the handcuffs, guessing how many times we had probably used these in a different life, I realized that there was something coated of the inside of them. Taking a closer look, I realized there was a thin layer of some sort of padding. Well damn, no wonder I never had any bruises from the damn things. Lupo had padded the inside of the cuffs. Did that mean the original Jo Lupo didn't hate me as much as I thought she did? If that lingerie I saw her wearing last night was anything to go by, the original Lupo probably didn't hate me at all, perhaps even liked me. Jo starting to stir from sleep only barely registered in my mind as I started analyzing the past three years of my life and all the interactions I had with Lupo. In hindsight, her arresting me seemed more like foreplay than anything.

"Hm, Zane? What are you doing up already?" Jo asked, startling me from my thoughts.

"Sunlight woke me up," I answered quickly. I really needed to get out of here before she fully woke up. I was lucky the first two times, but I wasn't willing to go for a third try.

"Yeah, I need to get curtains or something for those things. I don't mind since I always get up early, but you like to sleep half the day away when it's the weekend," she laughed, smiling up at me as she finally opened her eyes. I was in big trouble. Jo Lupo, covered in just a sheet, smiling at me like that, her silky hair tangled from last night, and those brown eyes of hers highlighted by the light streaming into her room made me just want to sink back into bed with her and stay there the rest of the weekend. The smile started to slip off her face when I remained silent.

"Zane, are you feeling alright?" she asked, moving closer and resting a hand on my shoulder. I gave her a smile that probably looked as strained as I felt.

"Yeah, for now. You'll probably be pissed at me once you've woken up a bit more…or had your morning coffee. I don't know, could go either way. If it's the coffee I might have time to run," I rambled, attempting some sort of humor.

"Run? What the hell are you talking about? What did you do this time?" she demanded, seeming more worried now as well as frustrated. She was just assuming I had probably done something annoying again if her tone was anything to go by. She sounded accusing, but also like this had happened too many times to care anymore. It was an interesting bit of information that she seemed used to my trouble making ways, but not in a bad way. It made me wonder if I was really as goody two shoes as I originally thought I might've been in that other life. But contemplation was for later. First I had to survive this conversation long enough to get out of here before Jo came to her senses and killed me.

I stood up, starting to pull on my clothes. If we were going to start this conversation, it would probably be good not to be distracted. Sitting naked in bed with an equally naked Jo was not going to help. Jo was still sitting in bed, a frustrated and thoughtful look on her face. As I was pulling my jeans on and looking for my shirt her expression changed to one of shock and then anger.

"Donovan!" she screeched and I flinched. Yup, she had figured it out. Well, sooner than later was most likely better. That way I wouldn't be tempted to try this again and see how long I could keep this up.

"Yeah Jojo?" I responded, hoping to just play this off. Yup, nothing unusual, just another morning at my girlfriend's house…who wasn't my girlfriend anymore since our history had been rewritten and I couldn't remember anything about being with her. Damn, something (besides Jo looking ready to kill me) told me I wasn't about to get out of this without bodily harm.

"Donovan, you will go downstairs, you will sit on the couch and you will wait for me to come downstairs," she told me very calmly, her voice strained with barely contained rage.

"Why?" the word was out before I could shut myself up.

"Because I'm going to tear you apart limb from limb and you will do as I say because you know you deserve it," she ground out. Yup, Lupo's logic was sound. I couldn't deny that I deserved whatever she was planning on doing to me because I had been a selfish jackass. I gave a small nod before picking up my shirt and heading downstairs to await my sentence. I wonder if anyone would find my body. Lupo would probably be smart enough to hide it really well, and it's not like Carter would look all that hard. Hell, he would probably help Lupo. Of course, all of this depended on if she left a body behind.

"Alright Donovan," Jo's voice broke through my morbid thoughts and I looked up to find her in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, her hair still loose, "I'm giving you one chance to explain why exactly you thought it was a good idea to break into my house and…yeah, so it better be one hell of an excuse," she growled, blushing slightly. I was smart enough to not point out she neglected to mention the mind blowing sex last night. Nerves starting to get the better of me, I got up and started pacing, running one hand through my already messy hair.

"Ok, so here's the thing. You've been avoiding me since I kissed you in the sheriff's office, probably so I would quit asking about the time jumping thing," I started. She was about to demand how the hell I knew that when I cut her off, "I figured it out and Fargo confirmed it while we were in space. I didn't even think when I broke into your house, honestly. Then I figured, how could I let this opportunity pass me up and it just snowballed from there. I just wanted to know what it had been like," I explained, having enough sense to look abashed, sorry even.

"Zane, that is the stupidest thing I have ever-" he words were drowned out by the sirens blaring outside, alerting residents to town wide disaster. Jo and I exchanged panicked looks before simultaneously heading for her computer. I tried not to watch as she typed in her password but, well, I was a hacker. I couldn't help it! Soon enough my attention was caught by the red alert biohazard message flashing on the screen.

"Jo?"

"Town wide contamination. Mandatory quarantine of all infected areas until the biohazard has been cleared," she mumbled leaning back in her seat. I was pretty familiar with most security protocols for the town having broken a fair number of them, but this one was new to me. There had never been, in my three years here, a town wide contamination.

"What?" I questioned.

"Everyone is in lockdown until the biohazard is cleared," she translated, looking up at me with wide, panicked eyes. Shit, I was locked in a house with Jo Lupo.

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><p>AN: ok, so this is the third chapter in, like, two days. i don't know how much longer i'm going to keep up this pace, so please don't be disappointed when it slows down. Thanks to all who have reviewed, added this to story alert, and/or favorites. Reviews are highly appreciated and encouraging :)


	4. Chapter 4

Josephina Lupo had been pacing her living room for the past fifteen minutes. She had given up trying to manually override the lockdown on her house after she went through every password and code she had, not to mention some of Fargo's as well. How the hell she knew those codes I will probably never find out. The point was, she was pacing like a caged tiger (honestly, she was just as dangerous as one) as I was attempting to hack through GD firewalls and do the override my way. I was having no such luck, having fallen into a few traps already including a fake server mainframe that just dumped me back to square one.

"Jojo, I have tried everything I can think of. I don't think we're getting out of here until the biohazard alarm ends," I sighed, finally admitting defeat. It probably wasn't smart of me to draw her attention again, but there was nothing we could do until the alarm ended. What better time than now to have it out, or for me to possibly beg for my life. I wonder where she kept all those guns I had seen the first week or so I had been in town. I hadn't seen any in my initial exploration, but that didn't mean she didn't keep them easily accessible.

"Fine then. On to the next issue for now. What in God's name possessed you to break into my house and act like my boyfriend?" she growled, sitting down on the couch and glaring at me. I twisted around in the chair to face her, hoping I could explain this right. I tended to say things in such a way that, well, people didn't take it the right way.

"I didn't mean to, I think I already explained. I was lost in thought while aimlessly wandering, found myself in your house and just explored a bit," at her responding glare I rolled my eyes angrily. "C'mon Jo! You know me better than you should! You have to know how bad my curiosity can be. I can't leave well enough alone remember? You had my Grandmother's ring and you weren't giving me answers. The least you could allow me was a short look into your life. Yes, I broke into your house and took a look around. That was it and I think I should get a free pass for that. Yes, I slept with you even though I'm not the version you're in love with and I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to know what it was like God dammit! I just wanted to know what it was like to be with you," my rant ended in a frustrated, resigned sigh. Jo's face went from angry, to shocked, to sad and pained all in that split second before she had her carefully blank mask in place. I hated that expression, the one where it seemed like nothing fazed her, that she couldn't be hurt. It pissed me off that she shut everyone out.

"Zane, since we're stuck here I know I can't kick your pathetic ass out of my home, but I think it would be best to just…not be in the same room for the moment," she muttered. God, even her voice sounded neutral, unemotional. I watched angrily as she got up and headed into the kitchen. She was running away from this conversation, from me, and that pissed me off. Sighing, I leaned back in my chair (choosing not to chase after an angry Jo. That was stupider than poking a bear with a stick) and stared up at the ceiling as if it might have all the answers written on it, just in invisible ink. How long were we going to be stuck in the same house? A few hours? A day? Damn, spending a whole week with an angry Lupo I couldn't even sleep with would be torture. At least if this was the other timeline and she was angry at me, I would still be able to sleep with her. Of course, I really couldn't know that for sure. For all I knew about the other time we could've been living together and she could've banished my sorry ass to the couch whenever we had a fight. Damn, all these possibilities of (What we used to have? Didn't have? Could've had?) whatever and having no answers for them was making me even angrier. A sharp whistle from the kitchen drew my attention and I got up to find out what Jo was whistling at.

"Zane, grab that will you? My hands are kind of full," Jo demanded, nodded toward the top shelf of an open cabinet.

"What am I, a dog?" I mumbled, grabbing the box of tea anyway.

"You came when I whistled didn't you?" she pointed out, flashing me one of those smirks that said "gotcha". I loved it when she smiled like that. That expression meant no pain in my immediate future and it also meant that Jo Lupo was very happy about something. The last time I saw that expression on her face was before the timeline screw up. One of her brothers had gotten married and Jo came back to town with that smile on her face announcing that she was going to be an aunt. I never would have guessed it, but Jo loved kids. I guess that scary persona of hers was just for the adults.

"Alright Jojo, what are you so busy making over here that I had to come fetch the tea?" I asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Pancakes and bacon. If you want that stupid concoction of fried peanut butter and bacon grab the peanut butter from the far left cabinet," she said, flipping the pancakes quickly. Well damn, she really did know me. I didn't know if I was about the shoot myself in the foot for doing this but, I really wanted to start asking questions.

"Hey Jo?" I cautiously drew her attention, well half of it, to me.

"Yeah?"

"Was it always like this?" I asked, setting the peanut butter down on the counter next to her. She only paused for a second before she resumed her cooking.

"What do you mean?" she tried to play it off like she didn't know exactly what I was talking about.

"C'mon Jojo, if we're going to be locked in for a while the least we could do is talk about it," I mumbled, already half giving up on the hopes that, even in these circumstances, she would give me answers. She gave out a long frustrated sigh before switching off the stove and turning to face me.

"Zane, do you really want to try and talk about this while I am still justifiably pissed beyond all reckoning with you?" she asked, one eyebrow raised in a challenging look. I was about to have another one of my "it's-so- incredibly-stupid-it's-insane-and-most-likely-to-get-me-killed" moments. I could feel how stupid my decision was going to be, but I couldn't help it.

"Yes," I said with the most serious expression I could muster, waiting for her reaction.

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><p>AN: Alright, so, i got a bunch of reviews on the last chapter which made me absolutely giddy! lol, but yeah, so i'm planning on posting two chapters today, and any and all reviews i get would be well appreciated. I hope everyone is liking the story so far. Also, to give credit where credit is due, the fake mainframe idea actually came from an episode of NCIS where McGee and Abby where trying to stop a hacker and caught him in a fake server thing. Yeah, if you couldn't tell, i'm not good with computer talk, but i can BS really well! lol also, if i haven't said before, and as i'm sure you all know, i don't own Eureka or any of it's ideas. (i'm saying this so i hopefully won't get sued, lol) Anyway, enjoy the new chapter, because after the next one, there probably won't be anything for a while.


	5. Chapter 5

Jo blinked at me, surprised. Either she couldn't believe I was being serious or she couldn't believe I was being this idiotic.

"Really? You're really going to push this issue now?" she questioned. The tone she used sounded more like she was questioning my sanity. Maybe she should be. I did break into her house after all. I shrugged in response to her and just waited, either to be knocked out by her insanely strong right hook, or maybe, just maybe, get answers to all the questions that kept popping into my head whenever I thought about her…about us. I could see her thinking about it, those honey colored eyes of hers staring at me thoughtfully. Then she pointedly turned away from me, back to the stove. Jo's blank look turned into a scowl as she looked at the food.

"Hope you like your bacon extra crispy," she grumbled, poking at some almost blackened pieces of fried bacon. My brain was a little sluggish processing her words. My mind was still on "is she going to talk to me or kill me" while Jo had jumped to "damn the breakfast is burned".

"Um, whatever, but Jo, you know we're going to talk about this whether you like it or not," I pointed out as she grabbed plates and rescued the food from becoming any more burnt. She sighed, turning to glower at me before shoving the plate of bacon (now slathered in peanut butter) at me.

"We'll talk when I don't have the urge to kill you every five seconds Donovan." The threatening tone in her voice and the fact that she used my last name again was all the warning I needed. I was just going to shut up, sit there, and eat my bacon like a good little boy until Jo was either far away from any knives or guns so that I could bug her again, or until she calmed down. I would probably go with calmed down Jo because let's face it, the woman should be considered a weapon herself.

So that's pretty much how it went. Jo and I sat at her kitchen table, quietly eating. I could tell she was annoyed by the way she was tearing apart her pancakes and stabbing viciously at the pieces, but at least she wasn't threatening to stab me instead. Despite the nearly blackened state of my food, it still tasted surprisingly good. When Jo was done with her food she got up and dumped her dishes in the sink before heading for the door.

"You can do the dishes Donovan," she said before disappearing, presumably upstairs. Reluctantly I turned to see what appeared to be a mountain of dishes in the sink. Great, Jo was going to torture me by making me do chores. As I got up and started to run hot water to begin the menial task of washing the dishes, I had to keep reminding myself, I deserved this. I deserved this because I broke into Jo's house and ended up sleeping with her. I deserved this…God this was boring!

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><p>Two hours and thirty dishes later I went looking for Jo. She hadn't reappeared like I expected her to and since she was a freaking ninja I hadn't heard her anywhere else in the house. I had already looked around downstairs, checked the bathroom and her room. I was about to go look in the guest room, the last place she might be.<p>

"Zane?"

"Holy shit!" if Jo told anyone later that I jumped half a foot and yelped a little when she suddenly called my name, I will vehemently deny it. Whipping around I didn't find Jo standing behind me like I expected, a smug smile on her face. No, instead I found her hanging upside down from a hole in the ceiling.

"Attic? I had no freaking clue you had an attic," was the only thing I could think of to say. Everyone in town had heard what happened with her house and the cement incident so most people knew the general layout of the place. No one (but me of course) was stupid enough to break into Josephina Lupo's home though. Even in my exploration last night I didn't see any access to any sort of attic. She smiled and dropped to the floor, landing easily on her feet.

"I know," she said simply.

"What were you doing up there anyway? Besides lying in wait to scare the hell out of me Jojo," I joked, grinning at her.

"Well, since we don't know how long this lockdown is going to last I was looking for some of my brother's clothes for you. It's not like you can wear the same thing for like, three days. But I got sidetracked," she mentioned, glancing back up from where she had appeared.

"Need any help?" I offered, a smirk on my face. Jo rolled her eyes and hopped up, grabbing onto the edge of the opening before swinging herself up. I was going to ignore how totally hot that was, because honestly, flirting with her right now would not help my situation. Ok, so that eye roll she gave me wasn't much of an answer. Taking it as a yes I grabbed a chair from the guest room and awkwardly pulled myself up, into the dimly lit attic. It was full of boxes, some labeled, some not, and what looked to be sheet covered furniture. Exploring amongst the piles of stuff I found Jo sitting on what looked to be an old rocking chair, smiling fondly into a box at her feet.

"What've you got there Jojo?" I asked, sitting on the floor beside her. I seemed to have startled out of some thought or memory because she jumped slightly when I spoke, but the smile remained on her face.

"Just a box of some old stuff. Dad moves around a lot, being part of active military still, and my brothers are all over the place, so when I moved here I took a lot of stuff with me," she explained. Peering into the old cardboard box, I grabbed the first thing I saw, a baseball.

"What's with this?" I asked. The thing didn't have any signatures on it or anything so it's not like it was valuable.

"It's when Dad was stationed near Boston. Mom took us to a Red Sox game. It was crazy at Fenway, but so much fun. I caught that ball off of a Cubs foul hit," she told me. I grinned at that. Yeah, games in Boston could get pretty wild, but they sure as hell knew how to throw good winner's parties. I reached in again and this time I plucked out something I never expected to see.

"Ballet shoes?" No freaking way. Jo Lupo was _not_ a dancer, let alone a ballerina. I turned my incredulous expression towards her and she gave me a challenging look that said "I dare you to say the wrong thing".

"Yeah, so?" she questioned.

"You like ballet? You, gun enthusiast, badass, hot as hell Jo Lupo, like ballet?" yeah, I couldn't have shut myself up if I tried. It was just too impossible. Josephina Lupo, the woman who had consistently kicked my ass for the past two years, was a closet ballerina.

"Donovan, you better find a way to shut yourself up or, lockdown or not, I will get you out of my house even if it means throwing you through a window," she warned. So yeah, I shut my mouth pretty quickly. Of course, I couldn't resist one more comment before falling silent.

"So Jojo, did you have to wear the tutu and tights as well? I would love to see you in that getup. Was it pink?" I joked. Jo glared at me for a minute before deciding I wasn't worth the effort of being beaten to a bloody pulp and took the shoes out of my hand. She smiled at the pair of slippers fondly before placing them back in the box, pulling out an old photo album next.

"I used to dance when I was little. Mom made all my costumes, and even watched me practice. It was our thing, you know? While my Dad and brothers were outside playing football or something Mom would watch me practice," I listened as she talked about her Mom, flipping through the photo book carefully.

"Is that your Mom?" I asked, moving to look over her should with she stopped at a particular picture.

"Yeah. This was taken at my last dance recital," Jo explained. Wow, five year old Jo was cute. She was this tiny little thing, all dressed up in a pink tutu, her ballet shoes on her feet and her long black hair in curly pig tails. There was no mistaking the other woman in the picture. Jo looked almost exactly like her mother. Dark olive skin and silky hair with the brightest smile as she talked to Jo before the performance. The only thing different was the eyes. Jo had these light brown, almost hazel eyes while her Mom's eyes were dark, almost black color.

"She looks exactly like you Jo," I pointed out, giving her a genuine smile when she looked up at me. She gave a small smile in return before shutting the book and placing it carefully back in the box with everything else. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and walked over to another box marked "clothes" and started rummaging through it. Well, I guess our show and tell moment was over with for now. I felt oddly pleasant, knowing Jo shared something from her life with may not have been what I wanted to know, but still, it was nice. Before this Lupo had shown up the only conversation I had had with the woman involved accusations and insults. I decidedly liked this Jo Lupo much more.

* * *

><p>AN: So yeah, it took me almost all day to write, and i got stuck in a bunch of places, but i got another chapter out. WARNING to all avid readers, i have a history paper due monday and a final on wednesday so i probably won't post another chapter before then. I'll still be writing, just not as much at a time so you'll get the next chapter asap...after my class ends, lol. just thought it was fair to warn everyone and thanks to everyone who has reviewed, i really appreciate it!


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the day passed by with relative ease. I didn't bug Jo, she didn't threaten me, and after we had a somewhat quiet dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese (which Jo informed me she ate when she was feeling down) we tried for about half an hour to contact someone. Unfortunately because the risk level was so high, communications were shut down lest anyone under the influence of something, call someone from out of town and blab. I figured getting in contact with Fargo or Deacon, hell even Carter would be easier than trying to hack GD and shut down the lockdown on Jo's house. Nope, any and all security concerning communications as well as the biohazard protocols were jacked up to even a level I had trouble hacking.

"Hey Zane, can you at least get into the GD system and find out what the hell even got all over town?" Jo asked. She had given up a while ago and was sitting on her couch, playing solitaire. I was still at the computer, just messing around and hoping not to get caught looking through her personal files.

"No can do sweetheart. I'm totally locked out. The furthest I can get is the login screen and then it boots me," I admitted.

"Well, if you're sure you can't get in then get off my computer. I'm sure you've already had fun looking through my personal files anyway," she told me.

"Awe, but Jojo, I was just getting to the good stuff. You know, your childhood pictures and saved emails. Can't I have five more minutes?" I joked, giving her a smirk when she turned to look at me.

"No. Come over here. I'm sick of playing solitaire. I want to play gin rummy," she told me as if she were speaking to a child. Choosing to follow orders over possible bodily harm, I went and sat on the far end of the couch from her.

"Any chance I can convince you to play strip rummy?" I asked, leering. I knew she hated when I did that, well, old Lupo had. I didn't know how new Jo would take my usual flirting. She simply glared at me, a look that held no malice like it once had.

"No, now deal," she commanded, handing me the cards. I smiled and started shuffling. Who would've thought I would _ever_ spend a quiet evening playing cards with Jo without her tasering me or me trying to get into bed with her (again).

"You know, I don't think I've played this many rounds of rummy since I was a kid," I mentioned after the one hundred and thirty second game. Lupo was beating me by six games despite my efficiency with, well, counting cards and all.

"Probably that summer you spent with your Mom before leaving for school," Jo commented, gathering up the cards and starting to shuffle. I swear my jaw hit the floor. I know I shouldn't be surprised that she knew about the summers I spent with my Mom at the summer cabin we had just outside of town, but I still wasn't used to her really_ knowing me_. Glancing up from the cards and seeing my expression, Jo smirked. I scowled in response and leaned back, sinking into the couch. Her smile slipped from her face as her eyes drifted past me. Tilting my head back, I followed her line of sight to the clock on the wall. Whoa, it was past midnight. Being around Jo Lupo really did make me lose track of anything else. When she was around, it seemed like all my focus (whether I liked it or not) was on her.

"It's late, I'm going to bed. If I find you anywhere near my room, I will shoot you," Jo warned before heading up the stairs. I waited a few minutes before following her up. Her door was still open and her light was on so I assumed it was safe.

"Hey Jojo," I greeted, leaning against the doorframe. She glanced up from the book she was reading and glared.

"What did I tell you not five minutes ago?" she growled.

"I know I know, but what if I have a nightmare?" I joked, pouting at her. Yeah, I was pushing boundaries here but I couldn't help it. Flirting with Jo was like playing with fire…incredibly sexy fire. It was exhilarating and just a little dangerous. She rolled her eyes and put her book down, pointedly turning away from me and shutting off her light.

"Grow up Donovan and go sleep in the guest room," she told me from the burrow of her covers. I stood there, looking at her another minute before listening and banishing myself to the extra bedroom. It was sad that I had to sleep alone while hotness incarnate was just down the hall in an equally empty and lonely bed.

* * *

><p>I groaned and rolled onto my side, bleary eyed and annoyed. What the freaking hell had woken me at freaking four in the morning? Tossing onto my back, I stared up at the ceiling, trying to identify some noise or something that would wake me from an otherwise dead sleep. After a few minutes of not hearing anything, I gave up, rolling onto my side to attempt to go back to sleep. Just as I was about to drift off I heard it, this little noise that sounded like a kid crying or something. Venturing out of my room I went to go see if Jo heard it too. Maybe the lockdown had ended or worse, a kid got caught outside.<p>

"Jojo?" I called quietly, knocking on her door lightly to see if she was up. I didn't hear a response and so I opened the door a bit, poking my head in. Jo Lupo, badass of the century, was curled in a tight ball on her bed, shaking like a leaf, her face buried against her knees.

"Jo?" she tensed and sniffled a little when I called her name.

"Go back to bed Zane," she told me, voice muffled and raspy from…crying. The concept of Lupo crying was so foreign to me. I couldn't imagine anything that would shake this woman's nerves that badly. Ignoring her demand, I warily stepped into the room and sat on the very edge of her bed, ready to run if she was going to hurt me.

"C'mon Jo, something's wrong. Tell me," I urged her. I heard her take a few deep, calming breaths before she looked up at me. Those chocolate colored eyes I loved to see were red rimmed and teary. This strong confident woman I enjoyed taunting just because it got her to focus on me was looking more like a fragile girl at the moment. Even still, I could tell she was debating whether to tell me whatever it was or not. I moved closer, sitting right in front of her. I really wish she would open up. It scared me slightly that the woman who could kick my ass while drinking her morning coffee (which she had done on one occasion) was so shaken up over something.

"A nightmare," she mumbled finally. I blinked, surprised. Did she just say something or was it my imagination?

"What about?" I encouraged gently. She took another deep breath and got up, pacing.

"My days in Special Forces," she admitted.

"PTSD?" the question was out of my mouth before I could think about it. I flinched when she glared at me. I had to learn to filter what came out of my mouth.

"No…maybe," she sighed, sitting down on the edge of her bed, "I don't know." Not sure what else to do or say, I moved so that I was sitting just behind her on the edge of the bed and pulled her into a cautious hug. She tensed up at the contact, and I vaguely wondered if she was about to carry out her threat of sending me out a window, biohazard or not. But then she relaxed into me and I swear I was grinning like a fool. It probably wasn't the time to be so giddy but I couldn't help it. Jo Lupo, living, breathing goddess of hotness, was seeking comfort from _me_. Somewhere in the back of my head (beyond thoughts of "Oh my freaking God this woman is amazing, and I hope I don't do the wrong thing because she'll kill me") I was aware we were sitting on the very edge of her bed, nearly falling off and so I moved back, giving Jo an encouraging tug so that she wouldn't land on her ass when I finally let go, or if she told me to.

"It's going to be fine sweetheart," I told her after a minute, now safely perched in the middle of her bed. She sighed and gave a shaky laugh, turning to bury her face against my neck. I could feel the remnants of her tears as they dampened my shoulder and I reached up, brushing away tear tracks on the cheek that wasn't pressed against my throat.

"I missed you," she breathed, barely audible. Those three little words made my stomach churn. I knew in my head that it wasn't _me_ she was missing, but some version of me that didn't exist anymore. I couldn't help it though. To know that in some other timeline, Jo and I had ended up together made me want her more. I didn't care if she was in love with a different version of me, if she thought her nonexistent God was sending a message that we weren't meant to be or, if she refused to talk about the incident. That was all bullshit as far as I was concerned. We fit, even if she didn't think so, and I'd be damned if I passed on having Jo in my life.

"Zane," Jo's voice startled me from my…well, aggressive thoughts on our relationship.

"Yeah Jojo?"

"You can stop trying to break me in half anytime now and go back to your own freaking room," she growled. Only then was I aware that I really had a death grip on the poor woman. I grinned apologetically at her, sliding away from her and off the bed.

"Aw, but Jojo, what if you have any more bad dreams?" I joked, trying to make light of the situation. She scowled at me.

"Out!" she barked. Well, I wasn't going to stick around, that would just be asking for more trouble. So with a smirk and a little wave, I went back to my own room. Maybe this lockdown would last long enough for me to get Jo to open up a bit. Yeah, that'd be nice.

* * *

><p>AN: ok, so between writing my paper and reading the new or updated stuff just to keep me sane, i managed to write another chapter. the ending might be a little...well, not as good as usual...but i couldn't help it! it's midnight, i just finished my paper and Allyrien just made me cry! lol, yeah, i'm full of excuses. anyway, enjoy the early chapter and please, reviews are well liked.


	7. Chapter 7

So the next morning was a lousy one. I got up and left my room in a drowsy haze only to get jolted awake by the sight of Jo leaving her bathroom in nothing but a towel. She got mad and surprised which, after years of dealing with the Enforcer I learned was not a good combination. When Jo was surprised she tended to strike first and ask questions later. The last thing I remember seeing was Jo's fist coming at my face. I regained consciousness an hour later to see Jo leaning over me, fully clothed to my disappointment.

"Sorry," she said, not sounding it at all. I groaned, closing my eyes again. Why couldn't I be in lo-…I be crazy for some other chick? I just had to go for the one that could kick my ass any day of the week.

"What the hell Jo?" I grumbled as she tried to laugh quietly at me.

"I didn't think you would be up this early on a Sunday. I'm sure you know how I am about being surprised. You're just lucky I didn't hit you in the face. Although, you'll probably be sore for a few days," she mentioned, patting me on the shoulder. I smiled wryly and laid my hand over hers. Yeah, being knocked out by her right now was worth it to have her talking to me amicably.

"Hey Jojo, how about as a real apology you make me something to eat?" I asked, peeking open one eye and smirking slightly if not a little hopefully. She rolled her eyes but nodded, getting up from her seat on the floor and holding a hand out to help me up. Grinning I grabbed her hand and let her haul me to my feet. She used a little more force than necessary and we stumbled into the wall. Before I could think better of it I press my lips to hers. I don't know why the hell I did it, but I just had the sudden desire to kiss her (and the opportunity presented itself while I had her pinned against the wall). Of course, I had to resist the urge to ruin the moment by smiling when she responded. I shifted closer, leaving no space between us as I pushed her further against the wall. I really did smirk however, when Jo decided she wanted to be the aggressor and switched our positions. I could feel her touching everywhere, hands trailing down along my chest, tangling her fingers in my hair, and she was constantly shifting to get our bodies even a millimeter closer. I thought it only fair to reciprocate and so I let my hand wander. By the time we broke apart for air, her shirt was on the floor and I was feeling sufficiently aroused. I just wanted to drag her back to bed and have a repeat performance of Friday night, maybe with the handcuffs this time. But dammit if reality didn't sink in for Jo at this exact moment and she remembered I wasn't _her_ Zane. She backed away from me, wrapping her arms around herself as she tried to pull on that familiar blank mask that she hid behind.

"Jojo, don't do that," I said, not daring to move closer in case she got angry real fast. I didn't feel like being knocked out twice in one day.

"Do what?" she growled, no real menace in her voice.

"Did you shut the other me out like this too? When something happened did you just pull on that blank mask and not tell me anything? Did you not open up to me when you were feeling down in the two years we were together?" I demanded. I was sick of her closing up on me. I may not have the memories she does but I was the same person god dammit. She sighed, leaning back against the wall, not looking at me.

"Zane, it's just…it's just really complicated. I wish you wouldn't ask about it," she mumbled. I wasn't completely unsympathetic, I could only imagine how hard this was for her, but it was still unfair to me. Two years of a relationship with Jo Lupo had been wiped clean from my mind, being replaced with two years of arrests and unsatisfied sexual tension.

"Jo, you know I'm going to keep pushing this but I won't ask the tough questions. At least not now, we can start small. What's your favorite color?" I asked, smiling at her surprised look.

"Um…blue," she finally answered, offering up a small smile.

"Nice, I thought it might be red. After all, you were wearing that red set I bought you the other night," I smirked. She rolled her eyes and gave my leg a halfhearted kick.

"Shut up before you dig yourself a deeper grave. How about you?"

"Me? I never really thought about it. I'd have to say cinnamon," I told her.

"Cinnamon? Are you serious? Neither of you ever like anything normal," Jo grumbled the last part to herself.

"Was that what he liked too?" I asked after a minute.

"Yeah. What I can't understand is why. It's such a random color. I mean, I understand as a taste preference but as a color it's just weird," she rambled, waving her hands around as she talked. I couldn't help but smile. Ah the Italians, they just can't talk without their hands (a little prejudice sure, but I know enough Italians to know it's true).

"Well, I can probably guess why it was my favorite color before," I mentioned, cutting into her rant. She paused and looked at me expectantly. When I didn't say anything she rolled her eyes again.

"Well?" she urged.

"What, no bribe for my insider knowledge? That's just mean Jojo," when she gave me a look that said "talk or else" I just smiled, but gave her the answer anyway. "Fine, fine, you're shirtless still anyway, that's enough reward for now. My favorite color is cinnamon because it's usually the color of your eyes." She seemed taken aback by that. I suppose it never crossed her mind even though I was sure, once she told me blue was her favorite color, that it was because my eyes were blue. She cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably for a minute before scooping up her shirt and putting it back on (to my disappointment).

"It's past noon and I'm getting pretty hungry. How about lunch?" Jo mentioned, already walking down the hall.

"Sure, but only if you make me my favorite," I mentioned. Even though I couldn't see her, I'm sure she rolled her eyes.

"Do you think everything else is pretty much the same?" she asked quietly as we were heading downstairs.

"What's pretty much the same?"

"You…if you like the same color for the same reason, is other stuff going to be the same?" she asked. Whoa, heavy question. It was true I still liked the color cinnamon because it was the color of Jo's eyes. I know I liked causing mischief because it meant talking to Jo while she kept an eye on my in lockup, making sure I wouldn't get out like the first time. I know we both liked Thai food and that Jo (when she was feeling lazy) would indulge in a hamburger with extra cheese. I know I definitely liked seeing her wear that lingerie I had bought her so long ago that I had thought she returned.

"That depends on a lot of stuff Jojo. Even though we weren't together for two years here, I still know a bunch of stuff about you. But that's mostly from the time you spent babysitting me," I pointed out, adding a smirk when she turned to give me a disapproving look.

"Yeah, that's not going to be happening anymore," she declared, pulling food out of the fridge.

"Awe, why not? You don't want any one on one time with me anymore?" I joked.

"Zane, I think this lockdown is all the 'one on one' time I can handle with you for a lifetime," she groaned. True, I was an annoying pain in the ass that most people would rather get away from within five minutes of meeting me…but speaking of lifetime.

"Then why'd you agree to marry me?" yep, I just couldn't shut up. I think having Jo around shut off my mental filter of "what not to blurt out loud." I watched carefully as Jo froze at the counter, her back to me. She slowly put down whatever was in her hand and leaned against the counter, hanging her head for a minute and taking a deep breath.

"Donovan, didn't you say you wouldn't ask?" she reminded me.

"I know, it just slipped out, but babe, these questions have been buzzing in my head for months! I know I may or may not get an answer and I promised not to ask, but you can't fault me for a slip up, can you?" I said.

"Fine, whatever. Ask something else," she sighed, going back to making whatever we were going to eat. Wow, I just avoided an angry Lupo. That was a miracle…or she was just used to me saying things I shouldn't.

"Ok, how many of those sets of lingerie did you keep?" I asked, leering when she turned to glare at me.

"Seriously, that's your next question?" she mumbled. I full out grinned.

"Yup, and you better fess up or I will go snooping," I told her.

"Ugh, why oh why did I have to get trapped with you? Fine, I kept about ten sets," she stated, her cheeks flushing pink. Huh, only ten sets. That was a little disappointing.

"Which ones? Why'd you get rid of the rest?" I questioned.

"That red set obviously. The blue, black, yellow and green ones with the lace. And then the purple, black and orange set with that flower pattern. Um, and then the white and burgundy sets. I got rid of anything pink. You should _know_ that is _not_ my color. The rest I got rid of because it either wasn't comfortable or there wasn't enough fabric to even consider it a scrap of clothing," she rushed through her words, becoming redder with embarrassment at every word. Of course, having a perfect recall memory, I started imagining Jo wearing those sets she had kept, and I certainly liked the metal image that produced.

"So…do you still call your mom every weekend?" Jo asked suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I call to check in, assure her I wasn't sent to prison yet," I tried to brush off the question, but I forgot for a second that this Jo knew me better.

"Yeah right, I know you call to check in and see how she's doing by herself. I also know you call that lady from the scholarship foundation. The one you stole all that money for when you got busted," Jo told me with that smirk that said she had the upper hand and she knew it. Damn, I must have been seriously head over heels for Jo to tell her that. Whenever the old Lupo asked who I called on the weekends (when I spent them in jail) I always just told her my mom. But this Jo knew I called the scholarship founder too. No one but Carter knew about her and he had the decency to keep quiet about my more honorable streak.

"Well, how about you Lupo? What's your family like?" I asked, shifting the focus back to her. The only thing I knew about her family was that they were all military and she had three brothers. She didn't tend to talk about them a lot. Her face lit up for a second, like it had in the attic yesterday, smiling at the thought of her family.

"My dad is still active military, and my brothers, well, two of them, are overseas. They're Special Forces like I was. One of them has a little boy, and is stationed at home for now, which I'm thankful for. At least I only have to worry about two of them for now, you know? Henry is the cutest little baby. He has his mom's eyes, these big round hazel eyes. But I can already tell he's going to be like his dad. That boy is so much trouble! Actually, he reminds me more of you," she said, turning to smile at me with this knowing look.

"Me?" I questioned.

"Yeah. My brother called the other day to complain about Henry. Apparently he got onto his mom's laptop and somehow got into her email, at the age of ten months," Jo gave me a meaningful look before turning back to whatever she was frying.

"Looks like he might come to Eureka when he's old enough," I laughed. That would be interesting, having another Lupo in town, this one a super genius as well as a badass.

"Hopefully my nephew won't be invited to come here the same way you were," she grumbled.

"Hey, at least I was stealing for a good cause," I pointed out.

"The ends don't justify the means Donovan," Jo countered.

"Whatever, I'm pretty sure this is an argument we had often. One that neither of us ever won," I sighed.

"You wouldn't be wrong about that," she laughed, sliding a plate toward me across the table.

"Burgers?"

"Yup. I had a craving. Besides I can use you as an excuse to indulge," she explained before digging in to her food.

"I'm an excuse? Jojo, that's just mean," she rolled her eyes and stole a fry from my plate.

"Being an excuse is better than being a corpse. Wouldn't you agree?" she asked, giving me a look that dared me to say the wrong thing. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, I think I have to agree with that. But Jojo, you wouldn't kill me after all the bonding we've been doing, would you?" I gave her my best innocent look, which she just laughed at.

"Bonding? Really? That's what you're going to call breaking into my house and tricking me?" she snickered. Her expression implied I should pick my next words very carefully if I wanted to avoid bodily harm.

"I didn't trick you," I mumbled. That whole, "breaking in" thing was apparently still a sore spot with her.

"No, you just led me on. You're lucky I haven't shot you yet," she mentioned, taking another bite of her half eaten burger. Mine was already gone and I was working on the fries. I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't do that either. Didn't I already explain that I just wanted to know what it had been like before?" yeah, I was sulking because she wouldn't give me answers, and after Friday night I _really_ wanted to know everything.

"Again Donovan, the ends don't justify the means," was all she said before we fell silent. Once again Jo left me to do the dishes.

* * *

><p>I finished the dishes just in time for Lupo to come back into the kitchen and tell me that she was going to make dinner. Great, more chores for me to do after. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it was only fair since a) Jo hadn't killed me yet for breaking into her house and sleeping with her b) feeding me instead of just letting me starve and c) actually talking to me. But my mind was still on "she's going to leave all the cleanup for me…<em>again<em>." Of course, me being the genius I was, I was correct. I don't think I had ever done this many dishes before, _ever_. By the time I was done it was well past eight at night and I found Jo curled up on the couch, watching a movie.

"Thanks," she said as I entered the room.

"Next time I'll cook. You can do the dishes," I grumbled, falling onto the couch next to her.

"Nope, this is punishment for sneaking into my house. You're lucky I'm gracious enough to not make you do all the work. Of course, I'm pretty sure you would make some weird stuff if I let you cook," Jo pointed out.

"Maybe," I told her with a grin. She rolled her eyes and tucked her legs under her as she turned her attention back to the screen. I was surprised to see that Lupo was watching a favorite of mine, once I actually paid attention to the movie. It was an old black and white sci-fi called _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_. Not many people appreciated the older flicks. The action and cheesy effects on screen caught my attention so well I didn't notice at first that Jo had nodded off, until her head lolled onto my shoulder.

"Jojo, I think it's time you went to bed," I said quietly. She mumbled something unintelligibly at me and curled up tighter, nuzzling her face further against my shoulder. Well, the movie was almost over, I could finish watching and then wake her up to go to bed.

"Yup, just a few more minutes," I thought aloud as I yawned.

* * *

><p>AN: Ok, so this took me a while to write. I studied for my final, I had writer's block, and i just didn't know where i was going with this. So if this chapter feels a little disjointed, well, yeah, that's probably because it is. this is however, the longest chapter i have written. For those who have added this to story alert and/or favorites, or just the readers who like the story, well, reviews are just as nice for me to read as it is for you to read the story, lol. Anyway, i'll stop nagging. Enjoy the story.


	8. Chapter 8

The first thing Monday morning that I was aware of was that I was very uncomfortable. My muscles were sore and I felt like I had been sleeping in a confined space. Trying to stretch out, I found my right arm pinned and my feet hitting something. Opening my eyes, it took a minute for my vision to focus. Huh, looks like I fell asleep on the couch last night…but I was still awake when Jo fell asleep. Where did she go if I was stretched out on the couch? Shifting around, I found I couldn't sit up…Jo Lupo was sleeping on me. Wow, ok, first thing, no panicking, that would wake her up and she would be pissed. Secondly, move as little as possible, she _was_ on top of me.

"Zane? You finally awake?" hearing Jo's sleepy voice coming from the curtain of hair blocking her face surprised me. Brushing her hair aside, I found Jo smiling up at me with this mischievous look.

"You just love scaring the hell out of me, don't you Lupo?" I grumbled, falling back onto the couch.

"Perhaps. Sometimes you're the one who scares me," she murmured, tucking her head down, against my shoulder. It took a little wriggling but I got my right arm free and rested it comfortably around Jo's waist and just gently started running my fingers along her spine. I never thought in a million years that I would wake up in Lupo's house, on her couch, with her on top of me and _not_ get killed.

"What could I ever do to scare you Jojo?" I asked after a minute. I wasn't sure if she would answer or not. We weren't up to asking the tough questions. I think the last thing we had talked about was book preferences. The only thing I read really was science journals while Jo enjoyed fictional books. The question I just asked was something I really wanted to know. Well, know more than the trivial stuff we could talk about any time. I waited patiently for her response whether it was to tell me to shut up or actually give me a straight answer. She finally sighed, and if possible, moved closer.

"You always did stupid stuff. Yes you're a genius, you love to never let me forget that, and yes you come up with the solutions half the time for those ridiculous disasters that happen, but you do stupid things. Did you and Carter ever have to blow up a second sun?" she asked.

"Second sun? Oh! Yeah, my first year here with Zoe's science project. I remember that," I snickered. That was one hell of a time. Jo came into the lab just as Carter and I were about to leave and demanded that I don't kill one of her best friends. I had agreed without a snarky comment, preoccupied by the sight of Lupo in a tank top and shorts.

"Well, I think that's when we started getting really serious because that was the first time I was really scared that you wouldn't come back. I don't know why, but it's always you and Carter that go off and I'm terrified that one of you or neither of you will return," she admitted. I gave her a reassuring hug before resuming tracing patterns along her back.

"You know you scare me plenty too. For the longest time you were always predictable. Yeah, you got into the middle of trouble quite a few times too but it's after the _incident_ that you really started wreaking havoc with my emotions. During the rage outbreak you kept it together and that was just amazing but when you had that bullet in your chest…" I let my words trail off, remembering Jo in the infirmary. I don't think I would ever admit that the few hours she was unconscious was the scariest time of my life. Blake had curtained off Jo's bed for a while when I showed up for an impromptu visit which I was thankful for. I paced for a while, trying to a) figure out why I was there and b) have an excuse for when she woke up. I spent the rest of the time sitting there, alternating between holding her hand, and letting my fingers trace along her jawline, down her neck, feeling her soft skin and always pausing at the pulse point. I think I was just reassuring myself that she was alive, regardless of the fact that I could hear her heartbeat on the monitor.

"When you crashed the sky cruiser I was so mad that you didn't seem to care at all about what had just happened," she sighed, breaking into my train of thought.

"Hey, in my self-defense, I was high on excess oxygen," I pointed out.

"True and you were adorable when you were blissed out. But I prefer you not having a near death experience," Jo told me, sitting up to look me in the eye. I couldn't help but smirk. It was one of the few positive things she had said about me.

"Adorable huh?" I asked.

"I'm not saying it twice… but Zane, what else is the same? Did you ever get infected with this disease that caused ice crystals to grow inside your body? Did you ever have to help me prove that I was me when one of those idiotic scientists swapped bodies with me?" Jo was rambling off so many Eureka disasters I couldn't get a word in edge wise. Finally I resorted to putting my hand over her mouth.

"Slow down Jojo. If you keep talking like that I won't be able to answer anything," I informed her. She glared at me and bit my hand but otherwise remained quiet. "Ok, so as far as I can tell, pretty much all the disasters that happened in your time happened in mine. Don't worry about it Gorgeous. People are the same, the events are basically the same, not much has changed. Yes, we've both had our share of near death experiences, but we're both still here," I told her, cradling that elegant face of hers in my hands, letting my fingers tangle in her hair which she hadn't tied back once all weekend. I didn't think she would ever look as good as when she wore those suits at work, but seeing Jo in casual clothes with her hair down…well, it was freaking hot. She stared at me for another minute before snuggling back into her original spot.

"What now?" she asked quietly.

"Well, do you want to lie here all day? I'm perfectly fine with that plan," I joked letting my hand wander just a little too far down her back. Jo jabbed me in the side, causing me to flinch and move my hand back into safe territory ASAP.

"Behave," she warned. I couldn't help but smirk. Behaving was not a word someone would associate with me…ever.

"Aw, Jojo, that's no fun." I snickered.

"Too damn bad," she mumbled through a yawn.

"Still tired babe?" I asked. She nodded, burying her face into my borrowed shirt. I had to laugh at that, she just reminded me so much of a child.

"Well, I always did like to sleep in," I told myself, attempting to at least get a little more comfortable on the couch.

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><p>As far as a day locked in a house with Jo Lupo went, well, today was pretty boring…or lazy depending on how you look at it. I woke up, still on the couch, sometime around noon with Jo nowhere in sight. Deciding I could find her later, I went and helped myself to some food, took a shower and changed into another set of borrowed clothes without any hint of Lupo being around. After an hour I went searching. I had another near death experience when I found her in her basement, which happened to be a gun range. Of course, as my luck would have it, she almost shot me. Why the hell anyone would set up their targets near the doorway to the basement I will never understand. The rest of the day pretty much passed like the last couple of days has been. Talk, eat dinner, watch a movie or play cards, at least tonight we didn't fall asleep on the couch. So now here I was, wide awake in bed, in the guest room. I could hear Jo in her room, probably having another nightmare. I was seriously debating with myself whether I should go wake her up or not.<p>

"Screw it, it's not the worst thing I've done," I muttered, getting out of bed and heading for her room. I didn't even bother knocking on her door, knowing she was still asleep but I still enter cautiously. My experience Sunday morning had reaffirmed that Jo Lupo was indeed very dangerous when she was surprised. So, being as quiet as I could, I sat on the edge of her bed, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Jojo, c'mon, wake up sweetheart. It's just a nightmare," I whispered, attempting to wake her gently. Yeah, ok, so waking up Jo while she was in the middle of a nightmare was just as bad as surprising her. I touched her and she was up in an instant, gun pointing at my face. Where the hell had _that_ come from? I didn't think Jo slept with a gun under her pillow, but the weapon hadn't been on her nightstand. Yeah, I really needed to focus instead of guessing where the gun had come from.

"Hey Jojo, it's just me," I said, holding my hands up. Her eyes were wide and almost panicked looking as she took a deep breath, lowering the weapon with shaking hands. I eased it out of her grip and set it down before turning to face her.

"Same thing?" I asked. She shook her head. I waited patiently for her to explain as she calmed down.

"No…no, this was something different. Just, a mission gone wrong in Afghanistan. I'm not supposed to talk about it to anyone without clearance," she mumbled, leaning forward and resting her head against my shoulder. I started running my hand soothingly along her back, just like I did this morning, and I could feel her relax slightly.

"You know, I may not be able to get into GD servers but I'm sure I could hack the Pentagon and give myself clearance," I joked. She laughed slightly at my humor but otherwise remained quiet.

"I think…even if I was able to tell you, I couldn't. It's really hard to talk about. Besides you know I prefer to bottle everything up and hide behind my mask," she at least attempted a joke. That must be a good sign, sort of, that Jo was trying to be funny.

"Well, I prefer you not hide, I enjoy caus- seeing that frustrated angry expression on your face," I snickered. I knew she would catch the slip up, but getting her to focus on anything but her nightmare was my goal for the moment. She pulled away just far enough to glare at me.

"You enjoy _causing_ my frustration Donovan," she corrected.

"Eh, whatever you say babe, but what I _really_ enjoyed see was you offering to use those handcuffs the other-" my words got cut off as Jo punched me in the stomach, sending me into a coughing fit.

"If you know what's good for you, you will never mention Friday night again," she warned, but that smile on her face told me she was grateful for the distraction I provided. I had better ideas for distracting her of course, but that was for later…when she wasn't mad at me.

"So abusive Jojo. How did I ever put up with you," I laughed, stretching out on her bed and grinning when she glared. I watched her debating whether to kick me out of her room or just off her bed for a moment, before she just chose to ignore it. I was surprised however, when she lay down next to me.

"You weren't a jackass," she answered.

"I'm not a jackass. I consider myself to be quite charming most of the time," I pouted. That got a real laugh out of her.

"Charming? You practically harassed me to agree to go out with you. Of course, I wasn't entirely surprised our first date didn't go well," she mentioned.

"What happened?" this was really one of the things I wanted to know. Fargo had only told me about the time travelling and the nature of our relationship, but he hadn't given me details and that was killing me. I was dying to know this kind of stuff.

"We met up at Café Diem for brunch after I got out of church. You were really sweet at first, looking all nervous and you had a rose for me. But then as we were talking, you just kept saying all this stuff and…well," she paused, taking a deep breath, "you just made me feel stupid," she confessed. Wow, way to screw up a first date Donovan. Over the years I had realized that Lupo (and even this Jo) had certain insecurities about living in a town full of geniuses. Usually when I teased her about her intelligence it seemed to cut just a little too deep and she would lash out. That's when I learned to stop with the wisecracks…and least concerning how smart she was. I didn't think this Jo would take it as badly as Lupo had, but then again, they were essentially the same person, so her insecurities must be the same.

"I assume I didn't completely screw up though considering?" I asked, wanting to know how we had ended up together, despite the first date fiasco. She smiled, and shifted to look at me.

"Yeah, you did better on our second date," was all she said. I frowned. That wasn't a whole lot of detail.

"Well?" I urged her to tell me more. She sighed, shifting onto her side and curling up against me.

"Zane, two years is a long time. I know you want every last detail but I don't have an eidetic memory like you do. I can tell you for sure we had a lot of ups and downs in our relationship, but you always made it up to me when you screwed up. Of course, you usually had awful timing because you would choose the middle of a crisis to talk to me," she said dryly, giving me a stern look.

"Hey, I probably did that so you were pressured into forgiving me before we all possibly died!" I explained. I watched her stern look melt away, her face breaking into a smile before she tucked her head down again, her forehead pressed against my arm.

"Yeah, that's what I figured too. Didn't matter though because I would've forgiven you eventually…and the make-up sex was great," Jo looked up quickly to see the shocked look on my face before she broke out into a giggling fit. Damn, she really was my fantasy woman. Most females I knew would hold onto a grudge forever if I didn't do something outrageous for forgiveness…which meant I just dumped them. But Jo, wow, she was willing to forgive me without making me jump through hoops _and_ we would have make-up sex. Not many women went for that, at least that I knew of. Usually they were still too pissed off even after the fight was over.

"So does that mean we can have make-up sex now?" I joked. Well, I was half hoping she'd say yes even though it was a million to one chance. Jo rolled her eyes at me and turned away, pulling the sheets over herself.

"Just go to sleep Zane. It's late and I'm tired," she mumbled. Huh, she wasn't kicking me out, at least, I don't think she was. Sweet, point for me, I get to sleep in Jo's bed tonight. This was a step up…or forward depending on how you looked at it. I mean, we weren't in a relationship so I wasn't sure if it was a step forward. But then again, Jo didn't treat me like the scum of the earth, which was a step up. Whatever, who cares? But, honestly, for the first time in three days, I actually was thankful for this lockdown.

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><p>AN: Yay, new chapter! Alright people, i know you love the story (thanks to all the wonderful reviews i've been getting) but i need a little help here. What do you think are Zane and Jo's favorite movies? If anyone has any suggestions then please, post a review or send me a message. Thanks!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: ok, so this chapter is a little shorter than my last couple, but that's just how it went. I'm sorry if i disappoint anyone because of the length of the chapter. I think it's just fair to warn everyone who reads this that i will either be writing like a maniac and get this done within a week, or i won't be updating at all for the next two weeks. It all depends on how my Uncle's funeral is. Anyway, hope to hear from anyone who enjoys the story.

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><p>The next morning I woke up feeling like I was high on oxygen again. Of course, I also woke up with my face buried in Jo's hair, which was tickling my nose. I was grinning like a fool as I shifted onto my back, momentarily being blinded by the light from outside. It was amazing how simply sharing a bed with Jo Lupo would make me feel. I was giddy, relaxed and anxious all at the same time. Would Jo be mad that I didn't go back to the guest room last night? More importantly, could I get away with doing it again tonight? I felt uneasy, being in the other room with Jo just down the hall, especially if she had nightmares that caused a near mental breakdown. The appearance of Jo's face above mine startled me from my thoughts. I hadn't even realized she had woken up.<p>

"Morning Jojo," I said with a grin, hoping she wasn't mad. She simply stared at me for another minute before a smile spread across her face.

"Morning," she responded lightly, settling against my side. Cautiously I wrapped my arm around her waist, tracing my fingers along the curve of her hip lazily. Well, this was a very different reaction than I was used to, but not unwelcome. Who knew three days trapped in a house with Jo Lupo would help bring about this kind of relationship between us. Jo started drawing patterns on my bare chest, the feel of her fingernails sending shivers down my spine. Looking at her face though, lost in thought, I was sure teasing was the furthest thing from her mind. It was kind of a disappointment but maybe if I was a good boy, I could convince her to have another good time like that first night I was here.

"What're you thinking about babe?" I asked after a moment in which neither of us had spoken.

"Just stuff…like how much you're the same," she mentioned, pressing a kiss to my shoulder.

"I thought we already determined I was pretty much the same…well, except I'm more of a troublemaker since I didn't have you to…distract me," I smirked. She rolled her eyes at me, but she was still smiling.

"Not what I meant."

"Well, what did you mean Jojo?" I asked, curious.

"Just, yeah, your experiences before and in Eureka are pretty much the same and all. It's just your mannerisms are the same too. I wasn't sure they would be, but they are," she explained.

"Care to elaborate?" I sighed. I didn't like it when she didn't give details, especially when it concerned the changes between timelines.

"Well, you call me Jojo, sweetheart, babe, and any other pet name you can think of. The way you handle the situation when I have a nightmare is the same. It's sweet that you ask about the nightmares and it's nice that you don't push it when I tell you I can't talk about it. Even the way you touch me is the same, like right now," she told me, laying one of her hands over mine, stilling my fingers.

"Why would it be different? When I kissed you in the Sheriff's office and you reacted, I wasn't kidding when I said it didn't feel like a first kiss. It was like I knew exactly how you liked being kissed. I didn't even have to think about it," I pointed out. It was true, when Lupo kissed me back that day my brain just shut down. I didn't process what was going on, what I was doing, hell, I didn't think. It was like my body knew what it was doing (which it probably did considering).

"I don't know. I've never changed history before, I didn't know what to expect," she pouted. I had to laugh at that. Yeah, I had to remind myself that this was a first and that no one knew exactly what would've changed.

"It's ok darling. It's not like I have any better idea than you," I mentioned.

"Hm, true. For once you're about as clueless as me," Jo gave me a smug smile as she moved slightly away from me to stretch out. I couldn't help but ogle her as she did so, that perfect body of hers exposed more than I was used to seeing, even if she was only in pajamas.

"Hey Jojo? How about we stay in bed all day?" I requested, half joking. I rolled onto my side, wrapping an arm around her and giving her a slight hug. She smiled and leaned close, our faces an inch apart.

"How about, you go make breakfast for a change?" she smirked, kissing me quickly before hopping out of bed. I groaned, letting my head fall back against the pillows.

"You tease," I complained before getting up myself and going to get dressed. I could hear her quiet giggling from the closet, but decided to play nice for now. By the time Jo came downstairs I was pretty much done making the omelets.

"Oh, you made something normal?" she joked, sitting at the table as I slid a plate in front of her.

"Yes, I am capable of making normal food. Just because I eat bacon and peanut butter doesn't mean I have totally outrageous tastes," I grumbled as Jo started digging in.

"Mm and you even managed to make my favorite," she grinned. Now that was a surprise. I just grabbed whatever looked good and tossed it together. Looks like my subconscious (or whatever it was, I wasn't a psychologist) still knew what Jo liked.

"So Jojo, what's the plan for today?" I asked after a minute.

"Good question. I mean, we already got through the tough conversations…well, mostly. We've done twenty questions, and I don't know about you, but after about a hundred and forty rounds of gin rummy I'm sick of it," she said, starting to clean up once she'd finished her breakfast.

"Well, it looks like it's going to be a rainy day. Perfect weather for movies," I hinted, glancing out the window to see clouds building. Jo glanced outside before turning to give me a knowing smile.

"Fine, go pick out some movies. I'm going to get some ice cream," she told me, motioning to the living room.

"Oh, dessert after breakfast Jojo? I didn't know you splurged like that," I snickered.

"Have you looked at the time recently? That was lunch, and I always indulge in dessert after lunch," she informed me with a teasing smile. Glancing at the clock, I was surprised to see it was past noon already.

"Looks like we slept in," I commented, "what kind of ice cream do you have?" Again Jo smiled before opening her freezer.

"Well, we certainly aren't going to eat the Rocky Road," she said casually, glancing over to watch my reaction. Damn, Jo kept a stash of Rocky Road ice cream? That was my favorite post sex snack. It was always the first thing I ate after sleeping with someone. If I had known she had some (and had I not been in immediate danger of being killed) I would've had some, probably in bed with Jo.

"Well, maybe we can have some later," I said as I caught Jo's eye.

"Maybe…if you're good," she gave me a small, genuine smile before pulling out a carton of Cookie Dough ice cream instead. After nabbing two spoons from the cabinet she joined me on the couch, digging right in.

"So what'd you pick?" she asked.

"A couple favorites. The _Ocean's _movies, _Shawshank Redemption_, and of course _Real Genius_. I didn't know what you wanted to watch but I figured my picks would take up a good couple of hours anyway," I told her, popping in the first movie.

"I've always liked _Down Periscope_. You know, that movie with Kelsey Grammer?" she said, getting up and adding it to the pile of movies on the coffee table.

"Ooh, comedy girl. I never thought you'd like that. It makes fun of the Navy and all," I pointed out. She grinned and took another huge scoop of ice cream.

"It's the Navy, not the Rangers. I don't care as much and it _is_ a funny movie," she defended her choice. I shrugged, taking a bite of ice cream and settling in for a day of lazing on the couch with Jo Lupo. The ice cream got finished off somewhere between the first and second movie and by the fourth movie it was early evening and we were having popcorn drenched in melted butter. After watching all my selections we took a break from TV and had a very late dinner, arguing over food preferences (I don't care what she said, olives stuffed with feta cheese were awesome). It was near midnight by the time we finished all the movies we had picked for the day and Jo and I were half asleep on the couch. At least we were awake enough to stumble upstairs. I paused in the doorway of her room as Jo proceeded to get ready for bed, changing into her pajamas in her closet before crawling into bed.

"Hey Jo?" I called warily.

"Hm?" I heard her sleepy reply. She was already halfway to dreamland.

"Do I have to go sleep in the guest room tonight?" I asked quietly. Yeah, I sounded like a child, but I didn't care. I wanted to share her bed again tonight, even if we didn't do anything. It was just nice having her close by, waking up with her in my arms in the morning. Jo sat up, looking at me for a moment, probably trying to decide if she felt ok with it or not. Finally, she shifted to the side, pulling the blankets down in a silent invitation. Trying not to seem overly eager and instead calmer, like this was normal, I crawled into bed next to her. I figured Jo would want to at least keep a little space between us in case she wasn't as comfortable as she seemed with this, but apparently my cautiousness was unwarranted. Jo scowled at me over her shoulder before shifting so that her back was entire pressed against my chest and, grabbing my hand, she tugged my arm around her.

"If you're going to sleep in my bed, don't act like I'm about to kill you. Unless of course I didn't give you permission, then by all means, fear for your life" she mumbled, shifting around so that her head was comfortably on her pillow, tucked just beneath my chin. I laughed a little, settling into a slightly better position and kissing her bare shoulder.

"I'll remember that sweetheart. Goodnight," I said, before drifting off.


	10. Chapter 10

Wednesday morning I found myself in Jo's bed, but no Jo. Wondering if the lockdown ended and Jo had gone outside to celebrate I got up, wandering through the house and hoping to hear her somewhere, but of course, she was a ninja. I didn't have to go far to find my girlfriend though.

"Zane? You're up early," I heard her voice coming from the bedroom I had just exited.

"Yeah, I don't know why so don't ask," I mumbled, walking back into her room to see her coming out of the closet.

"Not a morning person?" she smirked as I fell back into bed.

"You should know," I groaned.

"Hm, true. But honestly, it's not often I see you up before ten. Are you starting to get cabin fever or something?" she joked. I could feel the bed shift as she sat next to me and her hand started rubbing soothing circles on my back.

"Maybe. As much as I love being locked up in a house with you Jojo, there's only so much to do and me being bored is not a good thing," I told her, turning to look at her face. She had this sympathetic smile on her face and she leaned down to give me a quick kiss.

"I know Zane, I know. C'mon, let's go eat something and we can figure out what to do today," she told me, giving my hand a tug. I sighed, dragging my sorry butt out of bed. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I went downstairs to find Jo already cooking.

"Mm, smells good. What're you making?" I asked, resting my chin on her shoulder.

"Soup. I'm sick of regular breakfast food. You mind making some tea?" she asked, nudging my head with hers before moving away to go chop up some veggies.

"You know Jo, a year ago, if you asked me what I'd be doing today I probably would have said, holed up in my house working on a project," I mentioned, setting the kettle on the stove to heat. It was a slightly random topic, I know, but I had been thinking about what it would be like now, if Jo and friends had never changed things, in the back of my head for days. Jo didn't seem to mind the topic at all though. She was probably used to me spouting random things from time to time.

"A year ago, if you asked me what I'd be doing today I'd probably say…" she started, but trailed off as a dark expression settled on her face. I was about to ask her what she was going to say when I remembered that a year ago, this Jo wasn't here. She would still be back in her original timeline, the one in which I had proposed to her.

"What were you going to say Jo?" I asked, gently pulling her from her thoughts. She blinked, shaking her head slightly before giving me a smile, which looked forced and probably was.

"Nothing, I'd probably be at home reading," she said, turning back to the food she was preparing. Before I could demand to know what she was really thinking the kettle started whistling. Grumbling to myself about Jo and her need to keep secrets, I made the tea, leaving it on the counter to steep before turning back to my girlfriend. She was staring down at the soup, stirring it while lost in her own thoughts. Sneaking up behind her, I wrapped my arms around Jo's waist, pulling her against me.

"Tell me what you're thinking," I requested, kissing her temple lightly.

"It's nothing," she shrugged, moving away from me again. I scowled at her back, upset that I didn't get an answer. Maybe I was getting used to her just telling me everything lately when I asked, but she was still tight lipped about certain topics that she thought about from time to time. For now I wouldn't push it, but I'd get her to tell me what she was thinking, after all, she couldn't run away from me now. Of course, Jo being Jo, she'd probably knock me out if she wanted me to stop bugging her (well, I wasn't too sure about that but better safe than sorry). I was still trying to decide how to get Jo to open up a bit more when we finished breakfast and Lupo was asking what we should do today. Honestly, I hadn't been paying much attention to whatever we were talking about as we ate, but I'm sure I had at least manage to respond to her when she said something, so I doubted she realized my attention was elsewhere.

"Hey Jojo?"

"Yeah?" she glanced at me over her shoulder as she was wiping down the counter, cleaning up from the cooking.

"Are you going to tell me what you were going to say earlier?" I asked, going to lean against the counter next to her. I watched her tense up, keeping her gaze on the stain she was scrubbing from the countertop.

"I already told you. I would probably be reading a book of cleaning my guns or something calming like that," she mumbled, tossing the dish rag onto the counter and turning away from me, starting to wash dishes. Normally she would demand that I do the dishes, but I could tell she was trying to keep busy to avoid my question. I wasn't sure if she was avoiding answering because she thought I would be uncomfortable with the answer or if she wasn't going to say it aloud because whatever she thought pained her. But the thing was, if she wasn't going to answer, I couldn't tell what topic would bother her so much so that I could avoid it.

"Hey babe, were we living together in the other timeline?" I asked suddenly. Maybe the roundabout way would get me my answer. Obviously if the two of us were living together in the other time then I'm sure in a lockdown things would be different (like us having more sex for one. There's no way I would be locked in a house with my girlfriend and _not_ sleep with her).

"No, we didn't really live together. But I was either at your house or you were at mine so often we probably should have just moved in together. I mean, we probably would have eventually. We were together for two years," she explained, looking thoughtful, a little smile on her face. I couldn't help but grin at her expression. She looked happy at the thought of us living together.

"Well, we've lived together for four days without you killing me. How about I just move in with you?" I half joked. I really did like the idea of living with Jo now that I thought about it but I wasn't sure if Jo wanted that. She looked shocked at the idea of me moving in with her, but then she started to smile. Drying off her hands, she turned to face me, hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised in a mischievous look.

"Now Donovan, what would the town say? Honestly, we barely stand each other as it is. People would talk if you moved in with me all of a sudden," she teased.

"All the better to keep an eye on me Lupo," I joked right back, pulling her against me and kissing her lightly.

"You wouldn't dare cause trouble if you and I were sharing a house," she challenged, wrapping her arms around my neck and drawing me down into another kiss, this one longer and more heated than we'd shared in days. Finally we broke apart in need of air.

"I think Jojo, if you kiss me like that again, I'm going to have to do you right against this counter," I told her, staring at those wide cinnamon colored eyes of hers. She smirked suddenly, leaning back and flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Been there, done that," she sighed with an air of indifference.

"Wait, what?" Jo and I had done something like that? I couldn't imagine Lupo ever going for that but this Lupo, well she was certainly more…passionate. I grinned, tugging her so that she was pressed against me more firmly before I leaned down to kiss her again. My hands were already up her shirt as I started trailing kisses down her neck and along her collar bone as Jo was trying to tug my shirt off which she wasn't having much luck with. As much as I enjoyed where this was going, I still wanted an answer to my question.

"Jojo, what were you going to say earlier, you know, about what'd you'd be doing?" I asked in between kisses.

"Hm?" was her only response. I had to laugh, just a little. I didn't mean to distract her so much she wouldn't even form a coherent word, but I couldn't say I wasn't happy about her reactions to me either.

"What would we be doing right now if this was the other timeline?" I asked again.

"Mm, I don't know…this?" she laughed, finally managing to tug my shirt off. I smirked, kissing her again.

"Not what I meant Jojo, but nice try. I was asking what you were going to say earlier," I muttered, nipping at the skin of her throat and eliciting a gasp of pleasure from her.

"Ugh, planning probably, now shut up Zane," she growled, already working on getting my pants off. I obliged her request, much more interested in her rather than her thoughts at the moment. I half wrestled her out of her shirt at the same time she managed to get my pants off and we both scrambled to get her out of her jeans. Finally, as the last piece of clothing got tossed to the floor, Jo slid back to sit on the counter before wrapping her legs around my hips, urging me closer as she pulled me into another heated kiss. Neither of us seemed to have the patience to tease the other as Jo's legs wrapped tighter, practically crushing herself against me. The first time I had had sex with Jo I wanted to go slow, enjoy the moment, but she had wanted fast. This time neither of us had the tolerance for slow and leisurely. In two minutes our clothes had been off, another minute I was inside Jo and it was fucking amazing. Of course, going hard and fast had its drawbacks because within fifteen minutes Jo was coming and it only took seconds for me to follow. So not twenty minutes after that first kiss, we were laying out on her countertop, shaking slightly from both release and the cooling sweat on our skin and trying to catch our breath. Jo's quiet laughter caught my attention and I sat up slightly, still leaning over her as she smiled up at me.

"What's so funny?" I asked, starting to play with a strand of her hair, giving it a playful tug.

"Just as good as the first time we did this," she informed me, pushing me back so she could get off the counter. Well that put a grin on my face.

"Good to know I don't disappoint you," I said, giving her a light kiss on the forehead. Her smile widened and she grabbed my hand, leading me over to the couch in the living room. Yanking me in front of her, Jo pushed me down onto the sofa, lying on top of me and pulling the throw blanket down on us as she settled into a comfortable position.

"Nap time Jojo?" I asked, laughing, rubbing my hand along her back. She grinned up at me, giving me a small kiss before tucking her head down against my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm tired. We can eat Rocky Road for lunch when we wake up," she mumbled. I was still chuckling by the time she nodded off a few minutes later, but I didn't mind napping, I had gotten up early after all.

* * *

><p>Our little nap ended up lasting long into the afternoon. I woke up before Jo, around four thirty in the evening, still on the couch under the blanket with her (I had hoped fervently that it wasn't just a dream when I first woke up because it still seemed too impossible to me). It only took my girlfriend a few more minutes to come back into the realm of awareness.<p>

"Hey Zane," she mumbled, not even opening her eyes.

"Hey babe. Looks like we overslept. You still want that ice cream?" I asked, brushing her hair back from her face. In response she yawned, stretching out (probably on purpose just to frustrate me) before getting up and wandering into the kitchen. I watched her the whole way, how those sleek muscles moved flawlessly beneath smooth caramel skin. When she didn't come back a few minutes later, I got up and found her putting her clothes back on.

"Aw, and I was hoping you would just leave those where they were. I liked the view earlier," I grumbled, but I had a joking smile on my face. She just rolled her eyes at me and tossed me my pants.

"As much as I enjoy making you drool Donovan, I'd rather not prance around naked all day," she told me, pulling ice cream out of the freezer.

"Why not Jojo?" I pouted, nabbing a spoon from her hand and digging in to my favorite ice cream.

"What if the lockdown ends and Carter or god knows who else walks in the door? Yeah, that's not going to happen," she said.

"Point taken. I wouldn't like it if anyone else got to see you like that," I smirked, leaning over to kiss her neck.

"You know, you're a little possessive sometimes," she muttered, pushing me away as she grabbed the Rocky Road.

"I am not," I argued. Sure, I had never liked seeing Jo talking to that guy from the genetics lab, especially since I figured out what we had been in the other timeline. The guy was a flirt, worse than me sometimes. The fact that I had the urge to drag Jo away from him or to constantly give her hickeys just to show she had been with me didn't make me possessive. Yeah, even in my head my argument was pathetic. Jo giving me that knowing look told me she knew what I was thinking.

"Sure Donovan," was her only reply as we finished off the ice cream.

"Well Jojo, disregarding my tendency to want to keep you all to myself, what do you feel like doing now?" I asked, drawing her into a hug.

"How are you at _Call of Duty_?" she asked, a sly smile on her face as she slipped out of my arms, leading me back into the living room. I grinned at that challenging look on her face.

"Let's find out," I answered.

* * *

><p>AN: Ok, so that's another chapter down. The end is in sight! i believe (according to my outline) that there will only be three more chapters. So enjoy the story!


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of Wednesday night was passed with video games and junk food and at least six hours had passed before I had enough of Jo kicking my butt.

"I thought I was decent at this game but damn Jo. Do you ever let _anyone_ win?" I asked, setting the controller down. She smirked at me, saving the game before shutting it off.

"You should know I'm competitive," was her only remark. I rolled my eyes at her as I stifled a yawn.

"Damn, another late night. It's going to be hell trying to get back to a normal schedule when the lockdown ends," I mumbled, glancing at the clock.

"I'm used to it," she said as we headed upstairs.

"Of course you are. You probably got used to it in the military and all," I muttered.

"Yup, by the way, how long do you think this lockdown will last?" she asked, heading straight for her closet as I flopped down on the bed.

"I don't know. Town wide contamination is a big deal obviously. It's been what, five days already? Eventually the lockdown had to end. It's just a matter of time," I replied.

"True and I figure the others are going to be working on fixing the problem," Jo sighed, falling into bed next to me.

"So let's leave it to them to solve the problem. We can focus on other things," I told her, trailing my hand under her shirt and up her back. She laughed, moving away from me slightly.

"Zane, it's late and we just played video games for six hours. Aren't you tired at all?" she asked.

"Nope, I've always been a night owl," I grinned, tugging her closer. She smiled, and willingly moved nearer.

"Go to sleep Zane. You may be a night owl but I'm an early bird," she mumbled, tucking her head down, against my chest.

"No problem Jojo, and don't worry, the lockdown will end soon," I told her. She _hmm_ed in reply, quickly falling asleep.

* * *

><p>I woke up the next morning feeling worn down. I definitely didn't mind waking up with Jo in her bed, but being stuck in the house sucked. Honestly there wasn't much to do. Jo was easily entertained by a book or something. I couldn't sit still that long and focus. Usually I was jumping from project to project at home, never able to concentrate on one thing for too long. At Jo's house there was nothing like that for me to do. Yeah, I could always ask her more questions and stuff, trying to get details on the other timeline. I don't think she'd like that though. Jo had already told me she wanted me to quit digging for details because she couldn't remember every little facet.<p>

"Lost in thought again Zane?" Jo asked suddenly. Damn, I hadn't even noticed she had woken up. Glancing over at her, she was laying on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, giving me a quizzical look.

"Yeah," was the only thing I said, reaching up to tangle my fingers in her hair and draw her down to me for a kiss. I feel the slight curve of her lips as she smiled, before leaning back.

"It's almost noon. How about you help me with a project I've been meaning to tackle after we eat?" she asked.

"Sounds entertaining, what did you have in mind?" I wondered as we disentangled ourselves from her blankets (apparently we both tossed and turned a lot in our sleep).

"I was going to sort through the stuff in the attic, see what I wanted to put into storage. I don't want to risk anything else getting destroyed by a Eureka disaster," she explained. I grinned. Sweet, Jo was going to let me go through a bunch of her personal stuff. This would be fun (I wasn't sure it was a bright idea on her part, but I wasn't about to point that out).

"Cool, you can take a shower first, I'm going to make pancakes," I told her, kissing her forehead before going downstairs. A few minutes later Jo surprised me in the kitchen…I _did not_ jump and almost spill the batter.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" she asked through her laughing fit.

"No," I grumbled.

"Aw, don't pout. I'm sorry," she told me, a grin on her face. I rolled my eyes but let it go. I'd get back at her later.

"Hey babe, I found some raspberries in the fridge. You feel like having raspberry pancakes?" I asked her, holding up the fruit. She grinned, plucking one of the berries of the container and popping it into her mouth.

"Mm, yummy. Sounds good," she told me, licking her lips. Damn, the woman knew how to turn me on in an instant and with the most casual gestures too. Smiling as if she knew exactly what she did to me, Jo turned, walking out of the kitchen. I had no clue what she had been up to, but she didn't appear again until I was done cooking. I ate quickly, almost desperate to start looking through Jo's stuff in the attic. By the time Jo and I had finished cleaning up the kitchen (I couldn't convince her to leave the mess until later) I was nearly bouncing, anxiously waiting to get up into the loft. Jo was pretty much laughing at my excitement by the time we actually got into the dimly lit space.

"Where are we starting Jojo?" I asked, looking at all the boxes and sheet covered furniture.

"Good question. I suppose we should start with the big stuff. I'm just going to organize up here and leave it until I can get it down and into storage," she explained, tugging a sheet off the nearest piece of furniture, revealing an old couch.

"Why do you even have all this stuff if you have new stuff downstairs?" I asked uncovering what looked like a matching bed frame and bureau.

"Its furniture from the house before my mom died. I guess I just have a hard time letting go. Besides, that bedroom set was my mom's before it was mine, it's kind of a family thing," she told me coming over and tracing the carved pattern on the headboard affectionately. I couldn't help but smile. It was sad her mom had died and all, but that reminiscent look on her face was a rare sight and it made her look beautiful. It took a while to move all the furniture around but finally we got to looking in boxes. It was disappointing at first, the couple of boxes Jo had me go through was nothing but knickknacks that anyone would have. As we moved further into the piles of junk though, I found more interesting belongings. I kept stopping and asking Jo about this or that. Every time I did she would sigh, smile, and tell me the story behind it. Usually it was something like a baseball glove or a football and even one box of old Halloween costumes ( I had asked Jo if she would try on the angel costume from her teenage days I found but she refused, saying it needed to be burned). As I was looking through a stack of boxes filled with old clothes I hear Jo start laughing. Finding her in the maze of cardboard we had created, I discovered her sitting on the floor, laughing so hard her eyes were watering.

"What did you find Jojo?" I asked, sitting next to her.

"Photo album from…high school," she managed to say through the gasping breaths she was taking to try and calm down. Looking down at the book in front of her, I found myself looking at a group picture of ten or twelve teenagers all crowded together on one side of a table. It was obviously in a school cafeteria and I spotted teenage Jo, right in the middle. She was wearing a West Point shirt that was very clearly too small for her and her hair was loose around her shoulders, with strips of it dyed bright red. She had her arms slung around the people on either side of her, drawing them in for a hug apparently as the photo was taken.

"That was my group of friends from senior year. It was a miracle how we all had the same lunch period. We had fun, the bunch of us," Jo sighed, finally over her laughing fit.

"So what had you laughing so hard you couldn't breathe?" I asked (I had never heard Jo laugh so much).

"Well, Anya was talking about having sex with her boyfriend and none of us were really paying attention or not contributing much to the conversation. Finally she asks us if any of us had had sex yet besides her. Turns out none of us had, she was the only non-virgin. So she says, very loudly, 'Y'all need to get laid!'" Jo stopped for a second, stifling her laughter before continuing, "Well, the table falls silent and I notice the people sitting on Anya's side of the table trying not to laugh and Anya turning purple. I turn around, and there's a teacher right behind me, staring at us with this shocked expression!" at this point there was no stopping the laughter that she was trying to contain.

"Poor girl. She must've been so embarrassed," I snickered.

"I had to duck my head down to keep from laughing out loud! The best part was, that after a minute or two, the teacher just says 'Let's assume you were talking about Morrison's higher pyramid of needs' and after a bunch of us nod, saying we were taking a psychology course, he leaves. That's when everyone starts laughing at Anya," Jo finished the story, laughing so hard she was turning red.

"I suppose Anya never lived it down. She was lucky she didn't get yelled at or something," I pointed out, grinning.

"Yeah, last time I talked to that group a bunch of us still mention it and it's a good laugh," Jo told me, still smirking.

"Sounds like high school was a good time."

"It was, but I don't think I'd ever want to repeat it. I like the way my life seems to be going just fine," she told me, a serious look settling on her face as she stared at me. Huh, did Jo just say something nice about me? Looking away from her intense gaze I flipped the page, looking at more pictures from Jo's life. Every now and then she'd stop and tell me the story behind a photo and that would lead to more stories and more pictures. It was late by the time we finally decided we weren't going to get much else done and headed downstairs for dinner after we had picked up the stuff in the attic. Dinner of course was more storytelling, me doing most of the talking. By the way Jo would nod and smile I could tell she already knew most of what I was telling her. I think she just liked knowing a lot was the same, even if we had already determined that. Long after we had finished dinner and cleaned up, the two of us were still sitting at the table, swapping stories.

"Zane, that's it. I've had enough storytelling," Jo sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"Yeah, it's getting late," I conceded glancing at the clock. Following Jo up to her room, I immediately fell into bed, expecting her to disappear for a few minutes to change. Instead, Jo just smirked at me, crawling into bed next to me and giving me a kiss. Knowing where this was heading, and liking the fact that Jo was the one to start it, I grinned before kissing her back. Soon enough clothes were getting tossed onto the floor, our kisses getting more heated, hands wandering. Jo was underneath me, already panting and moaning and I swear I would never get used to seeing her like this. Noticing my pause, she smirked, shifting so that she pushed me down and she was on top, straddling my hips.

"Why Jojo, if you wanted to be on top all you had to do was say so," I joked, running my hands up her thighs. She gave a breathy little laugh before sinking down onto me, her laugh turning into a moan. I swear my eyes almost rolled back in my head, she felt so damn good…and then she started moving. Usually when I had sex, I was the one in control, but with Jo, well, damn, she could do anything she wanted to me and I wouldn't care, as long as it was her. Of course, just like the other times I slept with her, Jo set a fast pace. We lasted a little longer than the other two times, but then she fucking _shattered_ and just a minute after I followed. As we lay there, a tangle of boneless feeling limbs, I remembered what I had asked Jo the last time we had sex. I had never gotten a clear answer. What would she be planning?

"Hey Jojo?"

"What?" she mumbled, half asleep.

"When I asked you what you'd be doing right now in the other timeline, you said planning. Planning what?" I asked.

"Wedding of course," she sighed, shifting off of me curling up beneath the blankets, falling into a deeper sleep. Duh, in the other timeline we would've been engaged already. I was an idiot for not remembering that. So Jo would have been planning the big day huh? That was an interesting thought. Would she have been asking me about decisions or would she have done it herself, maybe have Allison help. I probably would leave it up to her. I would want to plan the honeymoon. Yeah, I would definitely pick somewhere with a beach, wanting to see Jo in a bikini. What kind of dress would she pick out? Would it be classic white or would she do something different like a colored dress? The more I thought about us together, maybe even getting married, the more I liked the idea. This past week with Jo gave us a lot of time to get over some issues, hell even get to know each other (in her case get to know me again). It was almost disappointing to think that when this lockdown was over, we would fall back into the normal routine. We weren't together, hell even hated each other, as far as the town knew. I would probably stay in my apartment again (no doubt thinking about Jo alone in her house). Yeah, I didn't like that thought.

"Not going to happen," I muttered angrily, getting up and rummaging through the stuff I had left on the bedside table. Finding what I was looking for, I slipped back into bed with Jo. After sliding my grandmother's ring onto her finger where it belonged, I settled down, ready to sleep finally. Yeah, Jo would probably be pissed in the morning, but hopefully she wouldn't refuse and toss the ring back at me, or worse, shoot me. If she did either of those things, I would just have to remind her that she already accepted my proposal (regardless if it was in another timeline). Happy with my counter argument, I drifted off to a contented sleep with Jo in my arms.

* * *

><p>AN: ok, one down, two more chapters to go (or it might just be one long one, idk yet). Anyway, that story Jo told Zane? yeah, it really happened. My friends and I used to play apples to apples (a card game for those who don't know) and my friend (whom i shall not name) really said that...so yeah, it was funny, had to add it. sorry if this chapter seems a little disjointed, but i still hope you enjoyed it.


	12. Chapter 12

I was in one of those half asleep, half-awake states Friday morning when I thought I heard footsteps in the hall. My foggy mind took a minute to realize it couldn't be Jo because she was still sleeping right next to me. Maybe I was imagining it? The stifled noise at the doorway told me I probably wasn't hallucinating. Rolling onto my back and propping myself up on my elbows, I found Jack Carter, the well-meaning Sheriff with a poor sense of timing, staring at me from the doorway of Jo's bedroom. I grinned at him and waved (grateful neither I nor Jo had kicked the sheets off last night).

"Lockdown over?" I asked casually.

"Zane, what the hell are you doing here? Where's Jo?" he asked, looking frustrated. Oh, right, I doubt he could see Jo from where he was standing and I was a good deal bigger than her. I turned slightly, nudging her to wake up.

"What is it Zane?" she mumbled, burrowing her face into her pillow. I turned just in time to see the Sheriff toss his hands in the air with an exasperated expression.

"Oh c'mon! Again!" he said loudly. Jo shot up in bed, at least having enough sense to grab the sheet and not expose herself.

"Carter, what the hell?" she asked, sliding closer to me and half hiding behind me.

"I should be asking you the same thing! We're in lockdown for a week, most of the town either doesn't remember what happened or thinks it was a stupid drill and I come to see how you're doing to find you in bed with Zane! And engaged too!" he ranted, pointing to her hand at the end.

"What?" I watched as Jo looked down at her hand, eyes widening when she saw the ring, before she looked up at me. I just smiled and gave her a light kiss.

"Love you babe," I told her. The most beautiful smile spread across her face as she returned the sentiment. Of course, the sheriff had to remind us he was there.

"Guys, yeah, I'm still here. Get dressed. Allison wants to check out everyone who was at risk of exposure at GD. You two are on the list," he explained before leaving the room, muttering something about public indecency again. I looked over to see Jo trying to suppress a smile. When her eyes met mine, yeah, that was it, we both started laughing.

"Well that was one hell of a wakeup call," I snickered, finally climbing out of bed and grabbing my own clothes.

"Yeah, but Zane, seriously?" I heard Jo say. Turning to look at her, I found her studying the ring on her finger.

"Lupo, we just spent a hundred and forty four hours together, give or take. If that isn't enough time to make me realize I'm completely, totally in love with you and want to keep you all to myself for the rest of my life, well, maybe Carter should lock us in here for another week," I told her, a slight smirk on my face. She seemed surprised at first, but a smile started creeping across her face as she looked between me and the ring on her finger.

"Well, I suppose I already did say yes," she sighed, as if it were some big confession. I already knew she would accept (whether it took some convincing or not) but her freely admitting she wanted to marry me? Yeah, that was a weird feeling, like my heart was going to leap out of my chest and like I wanted to have this big grin on my face. I probably already had the stupid grin on my face judging by the way Jo just shook her head and sighed.

"C'mon Jojo, you heard Carter. The sooner we get checked out, the sooner we can go see how people at Café Diem will react when they see that," I told her, nodding towards the ring.

"You always did like making a scene," she mumbled, but she was smiling which meant I wasn't in trouble.

"Of course, plus I want everyone to know you're off limits now," I added. She rolled her eyes, but then a mischievous smile formed on her face.

"Same goes for you Donovan. You're off limits now too. I almost feel bad for all those women you dated before me," she said giving me a meaningful look. Damn, I forgot about that. Yeah, I had been a bit of a serial dater and while I didn't mind the fact that I was "off limits" now, I was sure Jo would still be a bit touchy about the fact that I had dated…a lot.

"No one could ever catch my attention like you do Jo," I told her finally, kissing her forehead. Seeming satisfied with that answer, Jo and I got dressed, leaving the house for the first time in days. It was surprisingly anticlimactic. GD was practically empty when Jo and I walked in and only Allison openly questioned us about the ring while other people only cast curious glances. Allison explained exactly what happened, rambling off medical terms that neither Jo nor I really understood before she finally concluded with the simple explanation that everyone just had a bout of amnesia and it was best to just not talk about the incident. Finally Jo and I were cleared and found ourselves standing outside Café Diem.

"Ready Jojo?" asked her, holding her hand. She took a deep breath before looking up at me.

"Yeah," she sighed and we walked in.

* * *

><p>AN: Ok, so i wasn't sure i was going to write on long chapter or two shorter ones for the ended. since i haven't worked out the kinks in the ending, well, it's two shorter chapter. This is the beginning of the end!


	13. Chapter 13

_**Five Years Later**_

"Niall, stop trying to make a flux generator out of the toaster!" I heard Jo yell as she walked into Carter's kitchen. Oops, I knew I forgot to tell him something. Glancing around the corner I found her lecturing our sullen looking five year old.

"Sweetheart, I think that was my fault. I forgot to tell him not to dismantle S.A.R.A.H. honestly, can you blame him?" I pointed out, smirking as my six months pregnant wife rounded her glare on me.

"He's your son, you deal with him," she sighed, picking up the boy and handing him to me. Taking Niall from her, I ruffled his messy black hair.

"Hey, at least Catty didn't tackle you yet today," I pointed out as the three of us wandered back into the living room with the others.

"Yeah…but you said Mom taught her something new. I know Catty's going to want to try her new move on me," he mumbled, his blue eyes scanning the room for his four year old sister.

"Niall, you and your sister may have my smarts, but you're both just as tough as your mom. You can hold your own against her. Just don't pull her hair, you know that's not fair," I told him, setting him on the floor. He immediately ran over to Carter, where Jo was taking our one year old daughter, Marie, from him as Allison was cradling Marie's twin brother, Matthew. As I sat on the couch next to Grace and Henry I spotted my four year daughter eyeing her brother, calculating her attack.

"Catalina, don't even think about it," I warned, picking her up before she could dart away and hide.

"But Daddy, Mom said I should practice if I want to get good!" she complained, looking up at me with big cinnamon colored eyes.

"Well don't practice on your brother. If anything, practice on the boys from school," I told her. Her expression brightened at the idea and she went to chase down one of the other kids at the party.

"Hey babe, what are you thinking about?" Jo asked, sitting next to me while handing over Marie. I sighed, settling the girl on my lap and handing her one of the toys Jo and I had thought to bring for the younger ones.

"Just hard to imagine Niall's five already…and that this is one hell of a birthday party for him. Half the town must be here," I snickered.

"Well, I don't think we had meant to have kids so soon, or so many," she laughed, resting a hand on her stomach. Yeah, that was true. When Jo and I had walked into Café Diem that Friday I never imagined the chaos that would follow. The townspeople had bombarded us with questions that we answered as best we could (it had taken up until the actual wedding for people to wonder if it was just an elaborate prank or a Eureka experiment affecting us). Three months after the lockdown Jo and I finally got married. A week after that we found out Jo was pregnant and six months later Niall was born. Telling my Mom had been interesting (she had been ecstatic) and Jo's brothers and Father (they were less than thrilled, but still happy for us). His sister and the twins were less of a surprise but having four kids in five years with another one on the way sure posed one hell of a challenge, especially when they had my smarts and Jo's kick ass skills. Disasters in Eureka almost doubled what with my kids being just as…inquisitive as me (and having a knack for getting into trouble much to Jo's dismay). It was challenging, but I don't think I would change it for anything. Two heads of black hair running toward me and Jo caught my attention as Niall and Catty practically jumped Jo and I.

"Whoa, careful there, what's the hurry?" I asked, quickly handing Marie to Grace (much to her delight) and made room for our two older children to sit between us on the couch.

"Uncle Jack and Uncle Doug were talking about you!" Catty started.

"Yeah, and they were saying how they never thought locking you and Mom in a house together would turn out so well," Niall interrupted.

"What were they talking about?" the two asked, looking at us expectantly. Wait, what? Carter and Fargo had planned to lock me and Jo in the house together? That would mean the lockdown was faked. By the look on Jo's face, she had figured out the same thing I did.

"Carter!" Jo called him over with a feigned sense of calm.

"Run. You don't want to see what your Mom's about to do to Uncle Jack," I told the kids. They giggled to themselves before running off to play with their friends. They knew not to be in the room when Jo was angry.

"Hey Jo, what's up?" Jack asked, grinning as he came over.

"My children just told me an interesting story about how you and the others faked a lockdown and trapped me and Zane in my house for a week. Do you know anything about this?" she asked a deceptively sweet smile on her face. The color drained from the Sheriff's face and he audibly gulped.

"Listen Jo, um I know it sounds bad, but it's honestly not that awful. Things turned out fine right?" yeah, Carter wasn't going to talk his way out of this and I was going to sit back and enjoy the show.

"Explain," she demanded, "and start with how you knew Zane was even at my house to begin with." With a sigh Jack sat in the chair across from us, scowling at our children as they ran by.

"I stopped by your house really late at night because of some crisis or other and saw Zane there. You two seemed, well, cuddly so I didn't bother waking you up, I could handle the problem myself. When I asked Allison if you told her anything about confronting Zane she told me you guys hadn't talking since he broke up with Zoe after the space flight incident. Figuring you two really needed to work things out, and after Fargo fessed up he told Zane about well…yeah, we decided on that crazy plan to get you two to talk. Zane, you're one hell of a hacker. Fargo was manually locking you out of the system from his office. He mentioned you almost got past him on one occasion," Carter explained.

"I should shoot you," Jo muttered glaring at the poor man.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea! It was Fargo's and we all just went along with it," the sheriff shouted, getting up and backing away from my wife. I laughed, putting an arm around her and trying to calm her down.

"Their plan worked, didn't it?" I pointed out. Jo glared at me, but conceded the point.

"You're babysitting for the next two months Carter, and no pushing it off on Zoe or Kevin," Jo doled out the punishment which Carter gracefully accepted with a sigh, muttering about Fargo getting the same torture.

"I suppose we're going out as much as possible in the next two months?" I questioned. She smirked at me, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Definitely," she sighed, eyes drifting shut.

"Tired babe?" I asked. She nodded, yawning.

"We should probably get home then, it's late," I mentioned, getting up carefully so she wouldn't fall over and starting to round up the kids. Five years ago, if someone told me I'd be married and have five kids with Josephina Lupo, I would've told them they were crazy or asked what drugs they were on. Now though, well, I couldn't help but think (as Jo and I herded our four little troublemakers to the car) that I'd never be happier than I was right now, with my family.

* * *

><p>AN: Ok, and that there is the end. I hope everyone liked it! i think i did pretty well for only my second story. Anyway, i was just happy that i finally reached the end, i decided to post the last chapter tonight...two or three hours after chapter 12, lol. And as far as the kids names go, well, i just liked them so much! (that's all i'll say on the matter) Anyway, big thanks to all my reviewers (constant or not) and especially Allyrien, Sydnew, QuasiOuster, Angel-Heart1, KimMG, and the very enthusiastic T-I-V-A, lol, love you all, thanks for your commentary. It made me laugh and feel glad i decided to post my writing.


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